Stay
by Blazingdusk
Summary: Barricade wants to know what's so special about the Witwicky boy, and he's determined to find out.
1. Chapter 1

Story Notes: This story takes place after the events of the 2007 movie. **It completely disregards the other two movies**. I've had this story on a very slow brew in my head since the first movie, so the other two simply don't fit. Also, while I am on summer break now, I will be starting college again in a little over a month, so updates may not be very frequent as my muse shrivels up and dies. I admit I was a bit taken by Barricade in the first movie, and in the end of the movie we don't really see what happens to him (open to interpretation?), so I kind of took it and ran with it. Subsequently, Black Dragon Queen's amazing story 'Cover Me' inspired me to make it a legit Barricade/Sam story, so you have her to thank for that!

Warnings : This story will be eventually be **mature**, and I'm rating it as such for now. It is also a **slash story**, meaning male/male relationship(s?). So if that kind of thing doesn't suit you, I suggest you just don't read this.

This is my first venture into writing this fandom! I've seen all the Michael Bay movies and I avidly watch the old G1 show, and I'm really just a big old Transformers nerd. I hope I don't muck it up too badly.

-:-

Five months, twelve days, nine hours, thirty-six minutes, six seconds since Mission City; since the All Spark was destroyed, since Megatron died, since Starscream _fled, _since the balance was momentarily restored.

Not that he was counting or anything.

Had Barricade been aware just how dull Earth was without a war to keep him occupied, he probably would have succumbed to his injuries after Mission City and just let himself offline for good. Of course, his survival mode had been just a little too intact for that, and he instead fixed himself up as best as he knew how and simply ignored the rest. He was still far too injured for his liking, – _weak, what if an Autobot discovers I'm still here? I won't be much of a challenge – _but he had little other choice.

Unable to safely exit Earth's atmosphere and leave the slagging planet behind, Barricade instead tried to make the best of his prison.

Cruising the streets at night to scare speeding teenagers trying to get home before curfew quickly grew old. Stalking dodgy neighborhoods and popular teenage meeting spots also dwindled into a cheap thrill after about a week, so Barricade had had to scrounge up a new pastime. He quickly found one, a both exciting and dangerous one that managed to adequately satisfy him.

Watching the Witwicky boy.

Hell, he did nothing short of stalking the human. Of course, he had to watch himself and cover his tracks so as to avoid attracting the attention of the Bee-Bot. He was quite fine without it, thanks.

The possibility of getting outed as the last living Decepticon on Earth, however, did not deter him in the least – it rather blew his "pastime" into a full-on obsession with the boy. He secretly thrilled at being able to observe the boy without either him or the Autobot being any the wiser.

After the first week of successfully trailing Witwicky, he marveled at just how easily he was able to spy on him without Bumblebee knowing. It spoke volumes about the Autobots _professionalism_, at least to him. The bots should really know better than to let their guard down just because they believed all the Decepticons left on Earth to be dead. _Really_.

He watched the boy for several months. He watched him over "summer vacation", watched as he went on several dates with the leggy girl who, like the boy, had quickly become a friend to the Autobots. He watched as they stopped going on dates, but still remained – hah – friends. He watched as the boy went back to school to complete his senior year. And, through all of his "watching," the boy and his robot remained oblivious to his presence.

There had been scares. Once, while Bumblebee had been driving Sam home from a night with his friend, the boy designated 'Miles,' Barricade had followed at a safe distance. He managed to catch snatches of a conversation between the two, when he heard a name he had not heard in ages.

"But when is, ah, Prowl, was it? When is he supposed to get here?" the boy had said, and upon hearing that designation, Barricade damned all caution and sped up so as to get closer and hear more of their conversation.

He immediately regretted it as Bumblebee, forgoing reply, braked and shushed Sam. He had sensed the Cybertronian presence, barely, but he knew he had sensed it. Bumblebee immediately reached out with his scanners to identify the signal, and Barricade barely had time to stop and slam his vitals off to their lowest degree possible while silently praying to a God he didn't really believe in that Bumblebee wouldn't reacquire his signal.

He didn't. After several tense moments, with Sam repeatedly questioning the bot about why he had stopped, – _annoying brat_ – Bumblebee began to drive again. He had not discovered Barricade.

Deciding he had learned all he needed to know, Barricade drove back to one of his many hidey-holes, an empty parking lot near an abandoned second-hand store. _Prowl was coming here?_

Of course, he had no idea when the Autobot would arrive, or even if he was with a convoy, but it wouldn't bode well for any remaining Decepticons. Prowl was nothing if not determined, and he would spend his last functioning thought on trying to eradicate Decepticon threat to those he was loyal to. Prowl was dangerous.

There had been other minor scares as well, one involving the trigger-happy gunner, but each had been successfully avoided, and still the Bee and his boy were none the wiser to his presence. He could practically roll in his delight over the situation.

When he was not enjoying his newfound activity, however, Barricade was thinking. A lot.

He thought about the Autobots, and about the Decepticons. He thought about his role in the war, and what he was going to do now that Megatron was dead.

He was more than a little surprised with himself when he realized he did not harbor any negative feelings for the Witwicky child, even though he had been the one to ultimately offline Megatron. If he were anyone else, he would even go so far as to say he was _grateful_ to the boy.

Barricade had never been a prominent figure in the war. He had joined the Decepticons on a whim, and because he had had – not friends, surely, but perhaps _tolerable acquaintances _– that had signed on with Megatron, he had not given too much thought about following. He had regretted his decision ever since.

It wasn't that he wished he had joined the Autobots, no. He would tear off his left arm before he joined up with those do-gooders. The 'Con just really and truly hated fighting. It was absolutely pointless. He was argumentative and negative by nature, sure, but he had always been careful to avoid all-out brawls. And then, to join a war and be told he would be fighting for a living? He wasn't exactly thrilled.

During the course of the war he had become even more bitter and closed-off than he was before, and even deliberately made others uncomfortable in his presence, if only to avoid working with the boisterous mechs. One of the only ones to see through his facade, and subsequently one of the few mechs Barricade could stand, was Frenzy.

Then, when they discovered both the Allspark and the frozen body of their leader were being harbored on a backwater planet called 'Earth,' Barricade was given orders to find some human boy and obtain an old pair of glasses from him by any means possible. When Frenzy offered to go with him, he did not object.

Earth, he found, was a disgusting planet. It's natural state was beautiful, even relaxing, wherever it could be found. The rest of the planet was covered with _humans_. Filthy, nasty little creatures who ate up the planet's resources and constantly fought with one another. He was actually rather glad the humans had such backwoods technology – at least they couldn't expand into the solar system and tear it apart with their wars as well. He steadfastly ignored the voice in his head that pointed out the Cybertronians were already accomplishing that.

But then he had met the Witwicky boy.

Most humans were easy to figure out. They had motives, schedules, and they tended to think along the same lines. Samuel Witwicky, however, was a bit different. The 'Con was completely puzzled by him, and it drove him a bit mad. Barricade would be lying if he said he wasn't drawn to the boy, even from day one.

It would certainly explain why he was practically stalking the boy now.

Today, though, was a good day for him. The Bee-Bot was off running an errand for something or other – Barricade honestly just didn't care – and Sam was _alone_.

It was good for Barricade because, obviously, he could watch the boy at a much closer vantage point than he was used to. He stayed out of the human's limited sight, of course, but that was hardly an issue.

The day had been rather boring, in all honesty, as the boy had gone to the lake with his little friends for a few hours. Barricade kept his vigil nearby, shamelessly eavesdropping, though there was nothing of interest being said.

It wasn't until his fleshling friends had gone home and Sam was left to walk his way back home that the _fun_ started. He watched as a larger, more dominant looking male quickly corralled Sam into backing into a tree, while the boy valiantly searched for an opening to slip away.

He inched closer to hear their conversation.

"Where's your pretty car at, Wittiky?"

"None of your business really, is it Trent?"

"Listen, Willwicky," he completely ignored Sam's mumbled '_Witwicky, asshole_,' "I don't know where or how you got that car. I don't know why or how Mikaela is fucking _talking_ to you, but I want you to know that you're still the same piece of shit you've always been. You're not special, and an expensive car and a trashy girlfriend won't help your status any."

Something in Trent's tirade seemed to finally push Sam over the edge, as he roughly shook Trent's grip off of him before stepping away.

"Don't pull your bruised ego shit on me, Trent. I know you want to blame me for making Mikaela realize that you didn't deserve her, but have a word of advice and get over yourself. And she is not _trashy_," he spat before turning away.

Trent stood frozen for a millisecond before he made a sort of jerky move, and Barricade recognized that he was about to attack. '_Time to shine,_' he thought wryly before quickly edging out of his hiding spot and driving towards the pair.

He flashed his lights once, and it instantly got Trent's attention – as well as Sam's. Both boys paled, but for very different reasons. Sam, bless him, was smart enough not to run.

As he pulled up, the hologram in the driver's seat turned to give a hard stare at Trent. "Is there a problem here, boys?" he said, and he distinctly noticed Sam shiver at the sound of his voice.

"No officer, I was actually just leaving," Trent mumbled, taking a step back. His hologram nodded, and Trent took off at a fast walk towards his own truck, not even throwing a glance over his shoulder at the faux-cop.

"Ladiesman217," Barricade growled, and any inch of color left in Sam's face was instantly gone.

"You're going to kill me," Sam squeaked. "Why now? Can't you wait? My mom is making my favorite tonight and I really had to tell Mikaela something important and I'm babysitting Mile's dog tomorrow and I really just –"

"_Ladiesman,_ " the bot interrupted, and the hologram pulled his sunglasses down his nose just enough to look the boy in the eye. "Get in the car, please."

"Oh, God," Sam groaned, but with a last furtive glance around, he did as he was told, opening the passenger door, which he vaguely noticed was heavily dented, and slid inside.


	2. Chapter 2

Warnings : Again, this will eventually be a **slash** story, meaning male/male relationships. If this has not been made clear by now, I don't know what else to do for you. /shrug

I'd like to take this time to apologize in advance if Sam seems more-or-less OCC, I'm not the greatest at writing funny characters. So he's just gonna be whatever I want him to be, cool? Cool.

Thanks so much for the reviews! I got a lot of story alert notices as well, thanks guys! I appreciate it. Also, thank you to anonybot for pointing out my point-of-view slip-up in the first chapter, I didn't even notice that! I tried to make sure it didn't happen in this chapter, but if it did, don't hesitate to point it out again.

-:-

His heartbeat seemed unnecessarily loud in the silence of Barricade's interior. The Decepticon had yet to say a word to Sam as they rolled through the streets of Tranquility, and Sam found himself fretting for approximately the fourteenth time just _when_ Barricade would kill him; the suspense really couldn't be good for his heart.

But the 'bot didn't say a word to Sam as he drove, and Sam's jaw was frozen shut with fear. Barricade had not deactivated his hologram, as it would naturally look rather odd should a boy be riding around in a police car with no driver. It did, however, manage to make Sam feel even more nervous as his imagination ran wild. A human Barricade was almost more frightening than the actual Barricade. Could the hologram reach out and grab him? Could it hurt him? Was it even solid? He slowly lost himself in these thoughts, occasionally casting nervous glances at the 'man' in the car with him.

So lost was he that when Barricade suddenly honked his horn rather loudly at a car that had cut him off, Sam jumped about a mile in his seat with a loud cry of "Jesus fucking Christ!" He then promptly smacked the divider beside him for scaring him when he remembered he wasn't sitting inside of Bumblebee, but rather a very scary Decepticon that probably meant to kill him. His face paled dramatically.

As if on cue, Barricade spoke up. The voice came from the dash; the hologram's lips did not move. "Ladiesman," he drawled, his voice as deep and intimidating as Sam remembered it, "I would _appreciate_ it if you would not strike me again. I am only tolerating you now as it is."

Sam suddenly found his voice again, and he began to sputter indignantly, "Tolerating me? What the fuck does that mean, and where are you taking me? You're going to kill me, aren't you!"

A burst of static, which Sam instantly recognized as a sigh. "If I had wanted you dead, you would be already."

"That's what they all say," Sam scoffed, crossing his arms. "You're probably just taking me somewhere nice and quiet to kill me, and then you'll leave my body to be found by the Autobots. You wouldn't have done anything back there, not in front of Trent, that would expose you, and the Autobots don't know you're still alive so that's obviously not what you want." Sam was rambling, but Barricade was secretly a little impressed with the boy's reasoning.

"Indeed, Ladiesman, I do not wish to be found by your little friends right at this moment. And while you have reason to fear, I can only ask that you trust me when I say that I won't kill you." A short silence. "Not today, anyway," he added teasingly.

Sam glared. "If I get back to Bee, you know I'm going to tell him. So why are you doing this?"

"Because that's what I want. I have been...content to sit here on this mudball planet since Mission City, and I have come to a few conclusions involving my role in this ridiculous war, and it concerns your Autobots."

"I'm listening," Sam said slowly, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully.

"_Obviously_ , foolish boy. As I was saying, I have come to the decision to denounce myself as a Decepticon."

"_What_ ?" Sam yelped, and Barricade inwardly cringed. "You can't do that though, can you? Decepticons can't just stop being Decepticons, can they? Wait, does that mean you want to join the Autobots?"

"Hell no!" Barricade spat, and Sam vaguely thought it was kind of hilarious hearing an alien robot employ human swears. "I would rather ingest glass than join the Autobots. Denouncing a faction does not mean you must join the other. As it stands, I will remain largely neutral in any upcoming skirmishes, as I refuse to fight for any further cause than my own survival. _However_, I am willing to...help the Autobots a little."

"Help?" Sam prodded.

"Starscream. He is still out there, and he does not know I am alive. I know him, and I know he is planning something. Megatron may be dead and the Allspark destroyed, but Starscream will not rest until the Autobots are eradicated – that is how deeply his hatred runs. He will continue this war for the sake of war, or he will die trying."

"Optimus says he's gathering up remaining Decepticons to launch another attack," Sam confessed.

"He is. Fortunately for the Autobots, however, few Decepticons would be willing to be loyal to Starscream. He is not favored, and with Megatron dead, I predict most of them will likely follow my footsteps and refuse to fight a pointless war. We have nothing left to fight for."

"But Starscream doesn't see it that way," Sam sighed, beginning to understand what Barricade was trying to say.

"Precisely, Ladiesman. Some Decepticons will likely follow him, because, like him, they have developed a taste for unnecessary destruction, or they still harbor hatred for the Autobots. There will still be fighting, but with the Decepticon morale so heavily diminished, I doubt they will have much trouble clearing the weeds out, so to speak."

Sam's hands fiddled nervously with each other in his lap. "Why does Starscream hate the Autobots so much?"

Barricade remained silent for several moments, and Sam began to think he wasn't going to answer. Finally, he sighed, "Starscream has a...volatile history. Your Autobots would know much of it. He strongly believes he was betrayed by an old Autobot companion of his, and while at first he only blamed Skyfire, soon he began to blame all of the Autobots. It was long ago, before the war began, and Starscream's sense of betrayal has since warped into an ugly need of revenge. He has become twisted and deranged as a result. Harboring such intense hatred for so long can destroy one's sanity."

"Wow," Sam breathed. He had never once thought that there was a reason behind Starscream's, or even Megatron's, role in the war. He had just assumed they had always been evil. "Does Megatron...did he have a similar reason?"

Barricade huffed. "The things I've heard about Megatron are rumors at best. I am not the bot to ask. I suggest if you really wished to know, ask the Prime."

"Optimus? Why would he know?"

"There is much you don't know about us, Ladiesman. I am surprised you have not asked them yet yourself," Barricade said slowly, and Sam got the feeling the 'Con wasn't going to tell him anything more about the Decepticons.

He sighed, drumming his fingers on his jean-clad leg. Barricade was being very forthcoming with his information, and so far he hadn't even threatened Sam's life. It felt incredibly surreal. "What do you gain by telling me all this?" he finally asked, curious.

"Peace," Barricade said softly, and suddenly Sam was struck by how tired Barricade sounded.

"But I don't trust you. You tried to kill me, you're a fucking _Decepticon_, even if you say you don't want to be one anymore. You can't expect me to suddenly be sunshine and roses around you like everything is suddenly _okay._"

"I don't expect you to be, Ladiesman," Barricade chuckled softly. "I am simply a messenger, I suppose. You don't have to take my warning to heart, nor do you have to trust me, but I told you what I know so that you could pass it on. If there is any hope to finally end this ridiculous fighting, I would sooner put my faith in the Autobots than with Starscream. I only ask that the Autobots leave me alone. I have done all I can do."

Sam only nodded, having decided that he would tell Optimus about Starscream. He had finally come to the conclusion that Barricade would be true to his word and wouldn't kill him today. In fact, Barricade was being positively civil.

He suspiciously eyed the hologram next to him for a long moment. "Can you..actually use that thing? It's just sitting there and it's kind of freaky, you know, hearing your voice but not seeing that..thing do anything."

"My hologram. I can give it higher function if you wish."

"You can make it talk?"

"I can make it do whatever I want. Touch it."

"No!"

"It won't bite you, Ladiesman, _touch it_," Barricade snapped, annoyed.

He did so, tentatively reaching out a hand to touch the hologram's arm, but his fingers slid through...nothing. They phased through it completely. He drew back, perturbed.

"Now," Barricade spoke, and suddenly something _different_ seemed to happen to it, and it somehow looked more solid than it had. "Touch it again."

Sam reached out again and started in surprise as his fingers touched a solid surface. The hologram was solid, and Sam could feel the leather of the police jacket it wore. "Wow," he breathed.

"I can make it as real as I wish it to be. It requires more output on my part, but with practice and frequent usage a hologram becomes second nature. We use them to blend in with a planet's natives."

"So..you can basically be human if you want? What about your robot form?"

"The hologram is a projection. We do not transform into them, they are not even a true piece of ourselves. It is a complicated process, and some cannot master it, but it is essentially creating an external form and projecting yourself within it. With enough skill, one can easily send a hologram miles away from it's base form."

The hologram suddenly reached up to take off his aviators. It – rather, he – turned to look at Sam, and the boy was surprised to notice that the hologram's eyes were not red, but _violet_. As if sensing Sam's surprise at his eye color, the hologram smiled, attractive lips pulling up into a grin. _Good god_, Sam thought dimly,_ he has_ dimples.

"I can make them whatever color I wish them to be. Everything on a hologram is customizable, but many build a form and stick to it. This is mine."

Sam really hated himself for thinking it, but Barricade's hologram was quite attractive. He looked no older than his early twenties, with silky, dark hair that curled around his ears, those damn violet eyes, thin, wide lips, and a strong jaw that curved into a very lovely neck.

"Is it acceptable, Ladiesman?" Barricade murmured, and Sam blushed because he had been staring and Barricade was _teasing_ him, damnit, and there were all kinds of things wrong with that. Decepticons did not flirt with human boys named Samuel James Witwicky, they just _didn't._

He scowled, looking pointedly away from Barricade, but he could still feel the bot's smile burning into his skin.

"So you want me to tell the Autobots that you're still alive?" he finally said, glancing back at the hologram when he deemed it safe. Barricade was looking at the road.

"I hardly see how you can avoid it. They'll want to know how you learned your information on Starscream, and there is nothing you can say to them that will make them believe you other than the truth."

Sam sighed deeply, rubbing a heavy hand over his face. "Yeah, I suppose. I'll tell them everything you told me, and I'll tell them to you want to be left alone."

"Thank you, Ladiesman." Sam's head whipped around to look at Barricade, startled. He had not been expecting any sort of gratitude from the 'Con. In fact, it seemed downright wrong that Barricade was actually thanking him.

"Sam. Call me Sam," he finally said, still staring contemplatively at the man in the driver's seat.

"As you wish, Sam." The hologram's eyes flicked onto his and he smiled, those damnable cheeks dimpling and Sam suddenly wanted to be anywhere but there.

The boy glanced out the window, aware of the blush still searing his cheeks, when he realized they were nearing his house. "You know where I live?"

"Of course I do. I've been watching you since Mission City, Sam. I must express my surprise that your little pet has remained unaware of my presence. Either I am a better spy than I am aware of, or the Autobots have grown lax."

"Oh," Sam mumbled intelligently, blushing. "You've been watching me? For _months_? Why?"

Barricade merely chuckled. "You are the defeater of Megatron, one of the most feared Cybertronians ever to live. You have been woven into this war since before you were even born, and you were ultimately the one to end it. Not only that, you have befriended the Autobots with ease, and you do not hesitate to call one your 'best friend.' You are unusual, Samuel Witwicky. I cannot deny my interest in you, and since Mission City I have watched you in an attempt to figure you out. I admit today's little adventure served a dual purpose for me. I have passed on my warning through a more...understanding medium, while subsequently trying to see first-hand what is so special about you."

Sam blinked. Barricade just admitted he was _interested _in Sam, thought he was special, even. What the hell? "So..you've been practically stalking me for, like, five months because you think I'm..special? Is this like a robot's version of a crush? Because it's pretty damn freaky if it is."

Barricade was silent for a moment, before finally, "Crush?"

"It's like a..well," Sam paused, mouth open, before a blush spread across his cheeks and he closed it with a click. "Nothing. Whatever. It's nothing. I don't even know why I said that. Forget it."

Barricade chuckled, and Sam couldn't help but feel like Barricade was still teasing him and he just wasn't in on the joke.

As the pseudo-cop pulled up beside Sam's house, Barricade finally spoke again, hesitantly, "Have any new Autobots arrived?"

Sam paused from gathering his bag, giving the hologram a sharp, calculating stare. If Barricade had really been watching him, then he would already know that Autobots had indeed arrived, as he could recall several conversations with Bee about them. He might not know who had arrived yet, though, or how many. Finally, he answered, "A few. I'm not telling you who, though. I still don't trust you."

"Of course," Barricade smiled mysteriously as he swung the door open for Sam.

As he climbed out and shut the door behind him, a thought occurred to him and he quickly turned back to Barricade, keeping a tentative hand on the 'Con's dented door. "What..what happened to you?"

The man in the driver's seat glanced at Sam, arcing a thick eyebrow. The hand practically caressing his door made it obvious what the boy was referring to. "Mission City happened to me, Samuel. I was far more injured than this, but I fixed up as much as I could. I am not a medic, however, so I continue to sustain my injuries."

"Oh." Sam ran a slow hand over the dimpled metal of the passenger door. The driver window was also fragmented, the door likely dented as well, and his hood was caved, while the back end of the car looked as though someone had ran into him going eighty. The metal crinkled up harshly, and cracks spiderwebbed up the back window. The damage was extensive, and Sam couldn't help the sympathetic pangs in his heart. "Does it hurt?"

Barricade was silent for a long moment. "Yes, Sam. I can feel pain just like any other sentient being."

Sam promptly flushed, duly embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't feel, I just..."

The 'Con sighed. "I know what you meant."

"Ratchet could help you," Sam offered hesitantly. He didn't really expect the 'Con to take him up on his offer, but he wouldn't feel right without leaving the offer open.

Barricade scoffed. "No. I'm sure you could vouch all day for Ratchet, but I don't trust him. I can live with the damage. It isn't as serious as it looks." Sam immediately knew he was lying, but he decided to let the subject drop. Barricade was obviously too proud and suspicious to accept the help of an Autobot medic.

"Okay," he mumbled, reluctantly taking a step back from the car. His eyes dropped momentarily before meeting Barricade's violet gaze once again, and he hesitated before asking, "I...will I see you again?"

A slow smirk spread across the hologram's face, and he raised an eyebrow teasingly. "Do you _want_ to see me again, Samuel?"

He blushed. Shaking his head, he tapped the door of the car before smiling and scoffing, "You wish." It felt incredibly odd to actually be joking with the Decepticon – or, rather, former Decepticon, if Barricade was to be believed, but if he were to be honest with himself, it felt...nice.

"Indeed, _Sam_," Barricade purred the boy's name, and Sam quickly looked away. "Perhaps you will see me again, soon." And with that, Barricade shot him another mysterious smile before the cop car made a U-turn in the street and drove away.

Sam watched him go, silently hating himself for the blush on his cheeks and the fluttering in his belly, before turning and trudging towards his house, bag slung on his shoulders. Bee would be home later that night, and Sam wasn't sure he was ready to face his overprotective guardian with his news. He didn't think he ever would be.

But one thing was for certain; he would _not_, under any circumstances, tell Bumblebee that he had actually enjoyed the Decepticon's company, and was secretly hoping that he would see Barricade again soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Warnings : Eventual slash! Also language, mature situations, etc., etc., all that good stuff.

I start college again tomorrow, and I have no idea how this semester is going to be, but I'll still try to update as often as possible.

Thanks for the reviews and support of this story! I appreciate every bit of it. Thank you so, so much! A lot of you are loving the Barricade/Sam, and I admit that's partly why I decided to go with that pairing. I'm a huge sucker for it, but there is so little fanfiction about it! So I decided to fix that, hehe.

I'm wondering if anyone caught my very small reference to the Princess Bride in the last chapter? Very small. If you blinked you'd have missed it.

-:-:-

Sam was hiding something from him.

Over the months since Mission City, Bumblebee had become very adept at reading his strange human's moods. Currently, the distracted stares, short responses, and hurried assurances of '_I'm fine, Bee, really_,' all pointed to one simple truth: Sam was hiding something.

The young Autobot couldn't think of what it could be. He had gone over thousands of probabilities in his head: Mikaela, his parents, a bully at school, he'd injured himself, _something_ that he obviously wasn't ready to tell his overprotective guardian about. And while Bumblebee was usually good at being patient, he was no saint.

He reached his breaking point when, after dinner, Sam wandered outside for their usual 'friend' time before the boy retired to bed. Bee slowly transformed in the cramped garage, forced to bend his head to avoid scraping the ceiling, and patted his knee in invitation. Sam climbed up, making himself comfortable, but offered the bot nothing more than a distracted, "Hey, buddy, glad you're back."

He tried not to scowl, he really did, but Bee _was_ protective of his human charge, maybe a little too protective, and he was practically itching to ask Sam what was wrong. He scowled anyway. Sam appeared to be fighting an internal battle with himself, and the more Bee pbserved his human charge, the more agitated the boy seemed to get.

Finally, Bee couldn't help himself. "Are you alright, Sam?"

"What?" Sam's head snapped up to look at him. "Yeah...well, no, actually," he confessed after he caught see of Bee's dramatically darkening scowl. It abruptly switched to a worry. "I mean I'm not hurt or anything! It's nothing like that, it's just...," he trailed off, clearly uncertain how to continue.

"Sam," Bee sighed, extending a finger to gently stroke the boy's back, "you know you can tell me anything. Whatever it is, I will listen. I am your friend."

The boy gently patted the thigh he was perched on. "I know, big guy, but..this concerns you, too. It concerns all of the Autobots, and I know I'm supposed to tell you, I was _told_ to tell you, but I don't know how to bring it up. You'll be so angry and upset and you'll blame yourself for not being there but it's not like I didn't make it out completely intact, in fact, I'm perfectly fine –"

"Sam," Bumblebee cut in gently, effectively ending the miniature tirade. "I'm not quite sure what you're getting at. What happened?"

Wide hazel eyes stared up at him, and his mouth kept opening and closing, fish-like in his uncertainty. Finally, he heaved a resigned sigh and dragged a hand down his face, keeping it over his eyes as he muttered just loud enough for Bumblebee to hear, "Did you know Barricade is still alive?"

Alarm. Shock. Intense worry. Disbelief. Other strong emotions flooded his processor, and Bee struggled to make sense of himself for a second. "_Barricade_? That slagger is still alive? How do you know, Sam?" He was dreading the answer.

Sam didn't remove his hand from his eyes, but he peeked out from between his fingers, visibly cringing. "I, well, um...he..kind of..found me today and not really kidnapped me but he made me get in the car –"

"_What?_ " Bee practically screeched, and Sam's hands flapped around in an attempt to shush him. "He _found_ you?"

"Yes, he f-"

"And you just _went with him?"_

"I didn't really have-"

"Samuel James Witwicky, you could have died! Barricade is a Decepticon, the enemy!"

"I _know_ that-"

"How are you even sitting here on with me, you should be dead!"

"But I'm not dead-"

"And I was not here to protect you! Optimus is going to be _furious_, I knew I should have stayed with you."

"Bee, really, it's fi-"

"Barricade! Here! I should have known!"

"It's-"

"_Barricade_ !"

"Bee!" Sam shouted, and Bee instantly fell quiet, silently fuming. "He's been watching me since Mission City, apparently, and –"

"He's been _watching_ you?"

"Bee!" the boy practically snarled, and the Autobot huffed but reluctantly fell silent again. "Probably shouldn't have started with that bit, but yes, he's been watching me for over five months. Apparently he's an amazing spy because none of us ever even knew."

"I should have guessed those fleeting signals might have been his. He did disappear after the battle..no one ever found him," Bee muttered darkly.

A quick glare from Sam shut the mech up. He cast an apologetic look at Sam before motioning for him to continue. "Yes, well, as I was saying," Sam's mouth twisted sourly as he glared at Bee, "he came to me today while you were conveniently absent. I think he's been waiting for a long time to get me alone. He approached me at the lake, and to be fair, his timing couldn't have been more perfect. Trent was making an ass of himself, and was probably about to do something stupid, when Barricade pulled up. I recognized him almost immediately, even through all the damage."

"Damage?"

Sam sighed, giving up on trying to shush his guardian. At least he wasn't shouting anymore. "Yeah, he was beat up really badly. He said it was all from the battle, and that he'd fixed himself up a little since then, but he couldn't fix the rest himself."

"How badly was he damaged?"

"He told me it wasn't serious, but he was in terrible shape. Almost all of his windows were cracked, and one of the rear seat windows was missing, and his doors, hood, and rear were really dented, like someone had punched him while he was still in car form. I'm surprised he can still drive in that kind of shape."

"He probably shouldn't be, but Barricade has always been very stubborn," Bee mumbled, and Sam glanced up at his guardian in surprise.

"You knew him, before the war?"

Bee hesitated, frowning. "Kind of. I never encountered him very much on Cybertron. We weren't in the same kind of social group, I guess you could say. He was in a racing gang back then, and the one time we crossed paths I thought him harsh, perhaps even a bit cruel, but very level-headed and strong nonetheless. I respected him a bit. He was the tough bad-boy type while I was practically the opposite. He intrigued me. Then the war broke out, and he joined the Decepticons as a scout. I only ever encountered him in battle after that."

"He was in a gang? Whoa," Sam blinked in surprise before smiling wryly. "I can see him being in a gang, actually, he's definitely the bad-boy type." Barricade's hologram flashed unbidden in his mind and Sam promptly turned his head away to hide his flushed face.

"Hn. What did he tell you, Sam, when you got in the car with him?"

"Oh! He...you don't have to believe him, I'm still not sure what to think about it, but he warned me about Starscream, and I was to warn you guys. He said that Starscream was definitely planning to attack again, and that he most likely wouldn't rest until all of the Autobots were dead. He wants revenge, apparently, and refuses to quit fighting."

"We are aware that Starscream has not given up the war yet," Bee griped, bemused, but a quick glare from Sam promptly silenced him again.

"He also said he wasn't going to be a Decepticon anymore."

"_What_ ? He's denouncing his faction? I don't believe him! Why would he do that, he hates us, he would never-"

"Would you be quiet!" Sam snapped crossly, pointing an accusatory finger at his guardian. "If you would just listen for more than two seconds, I could try and explain it to you a little better!"

Bee scowled, but relented. "I am sorry, Sam, do go on."

"Thank you," he said frostily. "Now, he said the reason he didn't want to be a Decepticon anymore was because the war, as far as he was concerned, is over. He said he had nothing left to fight for, and he was pretty sure a lot of other Decepticons would feel the same way. He told me that he would rather help the Autobots out if it meant an end to the fighting once and for all, and he was very adamant about refusing to fight alongside Starscream. I think that, at least on that aspect, he was telling the truth."

Bee's processor was whirling. He didn't trust Barricade at all, but what the Decepticon had told Sam made sense to him. He could find little reasonable flaws in the Decepticon's reasoning, no matter how hard he tried. He could very well be sincere in his actions, but it could also be a very elaborate ploy. Bumblebee was not an Autobot warrior for nothing. He would not allow himself or the rest of the Autobots to fall into a trap.

"I take it he doesn't want to join our side?" he asked Sam, though he already knew the answer.

"No," Sam grinned. "He was very adamant about his neutrality. In fact, after he told me all this, he even asked that the Autobots leave him alone."

"Try telling that to Ironhide," Bee mumbled, and Sam's grin widened. It faded rather suddenly as a thought occurred to him.

"Bee...Barricade told me that Starscream had a reason for hating the Autobots as much as he did. He mentioned someone named Skyfire, and a betrayal that he blamed all the Autobots for, but that was the only thing he knew about it. Or if he knew more, he didn't want to tell me. Do you know anything about that?"

Bee shuttered his optics several times, staring down at the boy on his thigh. He knew about the incident, of course, but his knowledge was not as extensive as some of the older bots. It was an old story, one that many had already forgotten in exchange for simply writing Starscream off as touched in the head, but that didn't make it any less true.

Eventually, Bee sighed and nodded. "Yes, I know about it. It happened so long ago, and many have forgotten already, especially since Skyfire has long since disappeared. His body was never recovered, so we are unsure if he is dead, but it has been so long most of us believe him to be. I admit my knowledge of it isn't as detailed as, perhaps, Optimus's or maybe Ratchet's, but I can tell you what I know."

He sighed deeply before continuing. "Starscream used to be a scientist and an explorer, and his companion on his excursions was another Cybertronian scientist named Skyfire. Skyfire was very fond of his research, and prioritized it above just about everything else, including his partner. But Starscream, so they say, grew very fond of Skyfire, and eventually came to love him."

"Whoa, wait, Starscream actually _loved _somebody once? Wow," Sam remarked, floored.

"Indeed. He loved Skyfire deeply, but he never told him. Or, if he did, it went directly over Skyfire's head. Most things did; he had a bit of a one-track mind. And then the war broke out. Skyfire was the one who convinced Starscream to join the Decepticon's underground cause, as Megatron was very convincing in his recruiting. Megatron made it seem as though the Decepticons were to be freedom fighters, of a sort – the good guys. Skyfire has always been a bit naïve. When he realized the truth, however, he quickly defected, but naturally Starscream didn't want him to go. He begged Skyfire to stay, but Skyfire still left to join the Autobots without him. Starscream chased after him, intent on staying beside the mech he loved, but there he found out that Skyfire joined the Autobots for two reasons. He stood behind our cause, but he also loved someone within our ranks: a mech designated Mirage. He left Starscream for Mirage, and when Starscream found out, he was...devastated, to say the least. I remember the fight that happened shortly after, too. It was quite a spectacle, comparable to a 'lover's quarrel' here on Earth."

"You mean they had an argument?" Sam gasped, too shocked to laugh. Starscream just seemed far too inhuman to ever have argued with an Autobot about his _feelings_.

"Yes," Bumblebee smiled sadly. "He accused Skyfire of leading him on and never caring about anyone's feelings but his own. Skyfire was adamant in his choice, however, and Starscream was beyond angry, but before he left, he pointed directly at Mirage and vowed to kill him. I think Starscream has always had a vengeful streak inside of him, and Skyfire's total rejection expanded it until it had basically become a personality trait. A normal mech would have been heartbroken, but would let it go for the other's happiness."

"So Starscream felt betrayed? Because Skyfire 'led him on' and left him behind?"

"Yes and no. While Starscream was rightfully angry, I believe he would have gotten over it, given time. But for a short time on Cybertron, a mech named Grimlock had become the temporary leader of the Autobots while Optimus was away. Grimlock has always been a lot more ruthless than Optimus, and he decided to use Starscream's only weakness – Skyfire – against him, as Starscream was rapidly becoming a dangerous figure in the war."

"Grimlock ordered Skyfire to pretend to defect to the Decepticons, citing his feelings for Starscream as the reason. And he went through with it, though I distinctly remember Mirage protesting it quite vehemently. They had a big fight about it. But Skyfire went anyway, and it worked. He convinced Starscream that he had grown to love him and had come back for him. When the time came, Skyfire tried to assassinate him. It failed, however, and Skyfire managed to escape. That, most of us believe, is what truly broke him. It was an immense act of betrayal on Skyfire's part. Optimus was very angry with Grimlock for that little stunt when he returned, but the deed had been done."

"And eventually he came to hate all of the Autobots, because of Skyfire? Because of what he did to him?" Sam whispered, shocked.

"Yes. At least, that is what many have theorized. I imagine he blames all of us now, believing we poisoned Skyfire against him. Grimlock was the one to order him to do it, but I don't think he ever knew that. He would rather hate us as a whole."

Sam shook his head wonderingly. "I never thought about what he was like before the war, you know. Any of them. I can't believe he actually loved somebody that much, and that _that_ is the reason he is the way he is today." Sam glanced up at Bee curiously. "Do you think that's why he went insane?"

Bee was silent as he mulled over his answer. "Partly so, yes. I also believe that he already harbored such feelings deep with himself, but buried them, until eventually he could no longer hide them. Even on Cybertron he was eccentric and intimidating, even a bit harsh at times, but never to the degree he amounts to today. I imagine hating something for as long as he has could not have been kind to him."

The pair fell quiet, each contemplating Starscream's past. Bumblebee had not thought about that little bit of history in many, many vorns. It was a testament to just how long the war had ravaged their race. He suddenly felt very old, despite being one of the youngest Autobots in existence.

He blinked rapidly, surprised, when Sam spoke up again, his expressive face curious and a bit apprehensive. "When I was...with Barricade, he had a hologram 'driving' the car, and when I asked about it, he told me that a lot of mechs can do that." He hesitated. "Do you have one?"

"A hologram? Yes, Sam, I am capable of projecting and controlling a hologram. As a scout, it was one of the many things I was required to learn. Would you like to see it?"

Sam nodded. Almost immediately, a boy – no – man, sat on the thigh opposite him, and Sam wondered crossly if it was a requirement that all Cybertronian holograms be attractive. And Bee was indeed attractive; messy, dirty blond hair, inhumanly bright blue eyes, a sleek jawline that implied his youthfulness, and lovely, full pink lips. Where Barricade's hologram exuded darkness and sensuality, Bee's was all curious, boyish innocence with a dash of maturity.

"That's so neat," he breathed, reached out as if to touch the hologram. Bee's hand reached out as well, slowly rising until Sam's hand was touching his, and he echoed Sam's awed grin. "Why haven't you used it before?"

"I have, before I met you. When I was still scouting Earth, sometimes I used it to meld into human surroundings, or to get information that I couldn't achieve with my mech form. It is an immensely handy, almost necessary, capability for a scout. After I met you, I no longer needed it."

Sam said nothing, absently trailing his gaze over Bee's holographic form. The mech almost started to fidget, before remembering Sam was still on his thigh, and forced himself to stay still. Suddenly, Sam looked up at him, and Bee let his hologram phase away. "Is that how it works for Cybertronians? Like humans, you just..fall in love?"

Bee smiled softly. "Essentially. As sentient beings we are capable of love just as any other being, and for the most part, we develop interest in another based on attraction and mutual interest."

"Oh." Sam frowned, turning his gaze to the thigh he was sitting upon. His fingers trailed over the bright paint. "I kind of thought, you know, super advanced robots and all, and the Allspark and the way you guys have visible souls and everything, that you'd have some kind of...soulmate thing, you know? Like each mech would be made with a future mate in mind, and they would find each other and they'd know that they were meant for each other, or something. I dunno, it's stupid," he shook his head, stubbornly keeping his gaze down.

"No, Sam, it's not stupid," Bee admonished, beginning to run a finger down the boy's back again. "You are actually not that far off the mark. In very rare instances, two mechs can have sparks that are perfectly compatible with each other. They are so compatible that it is said they can immediately feel the draw to their sparks, the call for them to bind, and that no other being will ever be as perfect to them as the other. It is very rare, however, and such an instance has not been recorded since – er, not for a long time."

Sam immediately knew his guardian was wasn't telling him something. He had cut off too abruptly. "Since who, Bee?" he prompted, curious.

"It is not my place to tell you," Bee said firmly. "Perhaps you will figure it out for yourself, eventually."

Sam frowned, but didn't press the issue. "Have you ever fallen in love, Bee?"

The mech blinked, surprised. "No, I have never fallen in love with another mech. I must admit, however, that I had a bit of a crush on Ratchet when I was younger. Much, much younger."

Sam giggled. Then he _laughed_. He nearly fell off of Bee's thigh with the force of his laughter. And Bee could only stare, amused, as his charge began to hiccup and attempt to get his laughter under control. It wasn't _that_ funny.

"Y-you...had..a crush...on _Ratchet_? The big scary medic? Bee! I can't! It's too much! What was it, the bedside manner? The wrench? Oh, god! I can't believe you had a crush on Ratchet!"

"It's not that far-fetched, really," Bee griped. "He's nothing but a teddy bear on the inside. Once upon a time, when I was much younger, he was a prominent role model for me, and it was only natural that I developed a harmless crush on him. I can assure I do not think of him in that way any longer."

"That's way too cute, Bee. Like, stupidly cute. I bet Ratchet was thrilled when he found out."

"Oh, very. I remember he sat me down and gave me 'the talk,' as they say. It was a very embarrassing day for me. Incidentally, I think that was the same day I ceased to have a 'crush' on Ratchet."

"No _way_, he gave you the birds and the bees talk? That is priceless!" He dissolved into another bought of helpless giggles.

"I hardly see what I have to do with it," Bee sniffed, but it only caused Sam to laugh harder.

After several minutes of Sam unsuccessfully attempting to control his laughter and Bee huffing in pretend indignation, the garage dwindled back into a comfortable silence. Sam lounged back on Bee's thigh, flush from laughter and completely at ease now that he had confessed his distraction and passed on Barricade's information, but Bee was becoming fretful again.

He ran a diagnostic on Sam, checking to make sure he was truly okay. He didn't need to – it was the thirty-fifth diagnostic he'd run on the boy since he had noticed there was something upsetting him, but Bee was his friend. It was only natural he be worried about Sam. Perfectly natural. The diagnostic completed, telling him yet again that Sam was perfectly fine. He sighed inwardly, feeling rather at a loss.

It wasn't unheard of for Decepticons to defect to the Autobots, or to become neutrals and back out of the war altogether. Those that did were usually insignificant mechs with little to offer their faction other than a statistic, and would not be missed if they left. It was actually more common for an Autobot to leave and join the Decepticons, though that in itself was also rather rare.

But Barricade was not an insignificant mech. He had been more than a number in Megatron's army, as he was one of the few hand-picked Decepticons to travel to Earth to locate the Allspark, as well as the one sent to retrieve the glasses from Sam. So why was he still here, and why was he trying to help them?

He didn't trust the mech, not one bit, and he would throw himself off a cliff before he let Sam be caught alone with the Decepticon again. It was entirely his fault that Sam had been 'kidnapped,' anyway. What kind of guardian was he if he couldn't even be there when Sam was potentially in danger?

The mech blinked suddenly and glanced down, abruptly thrown from his thoughts as Sam patted the metal thigh he had been sitting on before sliding off. "I'm heading in, Bee, I've got school tomorrow. Are we still going to see Optimus and the others this weekend?"

Bee smiled wryly. "I think, Sam, with recent events, that we can't afford _not_ to see Optimus as soon as possible."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right, huh? 'Night, Bee."

"Good night, Sam." The door clicked shut, and Bumblebee was left alone with his thoughts. He did not wish to be, as they were making him feel nauseous, and he quickly decided it was time to get some rest.

"What is done is done," the large Autobot sighed softly before folding into his car form and, eventually, falling into a fitful recharge.


	4. Chapter 4

Warnings: Eventual slash, language, all that good stuff.

I am so sorry about the wait for this chapter! It's been a looong few months, but luckily the semester is about to end so I'll have winter break to hopefully get out a few more chapters (unless that trip to New York happens, in which case this story will be put to the side _again_). Then with my laptop crashing on me, that's been hell. I'm taking an organismal bio class next semester, and I'll finally be getting into my major, so I'll probably be scarce again come mid-January.

Again, thanks so much for the lovely reviews and support! I'm still getting story alert notifications and the like. I really appreciate it. I'm so happy that so many people love Cade/Sam as much as I do. It's such an odd pairing but it works in my head. Eh.

-:-:-

Sam sat atop Bumblebee's hood, reclined against the windshield as he gazed at the sunset from the overlook. It had taken a long time for Bee to convince Sam that he didn't mind the boy sitting on him – no different than sitting _in_ him, really – but Sam had spent a good two months refusing to sit on his guardian's hood before he finally relented.

Bumblebee had commed Optimus nearly an hour before, and now he and Sam were waiting patiently for the Prime and the rest of the Autobots to show up. Once Optimus heard that Bumblebee had urgent news, he had insisted upon everyone's attendance.

The Autobot leader was still in negotiations with the American government for a base of operations for his Autobots, but the officials were dragging their feet – _typical_, Sam had scoffed – and Optimus was beginning to grow mildly irritated. Bee himself was more than a little ticked. They could save the entire planet from destruction and potential enslavement of the human race at Megatron's hands, and the government couldn't even spare them a simple place to stay for awhile. They didn't even need someplace fancy – any old abandoned military base or, hell, clearance to build a base in the middle of the desert would suit them just fine. But there were _negotiations_ and_ paperwork_ and _other useless slag_ and Bumblebee honestly wondered why they even bothered by now.

What he had not told Sam, and would not tell him unless the time came, was that he, or rather Optimus, was not even sure if the Autobots would stay on Earth.

For one, the Decepticons, namely Starscream, weren't going to stop fighting. They would come to the Autobots, to Earth, which would lead to more unnecessary destruction and death on a planet that wasn't even theirs to fight on. How could they continue to force the humans to fight for a cause that had nothing to do with them? It was unfair to drag a completely innocent race into the Cybertronian's civil war.

But he didn't want to leave Sam. In the span of a few months, the human boy from a random planet in a vast galaxy in an even bigger, infinite universe, had become his best friend.

Bee had never had a 'best friend.' He had been close to other mechs before, but never had he met someone that he connected to as he did with Sam. The boy was a rare kind of being. Few sentient creatures had the kind of understanding and sheer compassion that Sam had.

And then he had gotten thrown directly into the middle of a war between two factions of gigantic, sentient mechanical beings. It wasn't right that Sam, good, beautiful Sam, was forced to fight, to witness such pain and death. But still the boy was unchanged, still Sam was so _beautiful_, and Bee knew, selfish as it was, that he could never let Sam go.

He loved him.

When he had first realized he loved Sam, he completely denied it. He loved him as a best friend, but only as a friend. 'Like a brother,' as they say. Right? Sam was only his friend, his charge, the boy he had sworn to protect. He couldn't love Sam. But then Barricade decided to rear his ugly head back into their lives, and as Bee internally swore he would do absolutely _anything_ for Sam to protect him from both Barricade and the remaining Decepticons, he quit denying himself. He loved Sam more than anything, and he would never stop.

He fondly turned his gaze to the boy on his hood, watching the setting sun glow off his skin in a beautiful, muted way that Cybertronian metal could never duplicate. He could feel the dull warmth from Sam's skin through his t-shirt and coat where he reclined against his hood. He knew he needed to tell the boy about his feelings – even if Sam didn't return them. He had a right to know, and holding his tongue would get him nowhere. As he watched the boy, Bee silently vowed that, should his feelings be unreturned, he would never let his feelings get in the way of their bond. Sam was too important to him.

His reverie was broken by Optimus's arrival. Sam awoke from his doze with a start, his eyes flying open, and he quickly sat up and slid off of Bee's hood, much to the Autobot's dismay.

"Sam, Bumblebee," Optimus greeted as he unfolded into his mech form, the others quickly following suit. Bee quickly transformed as well, throwing a quick salute to the Autobot leader.

"Hey big guy," Sam grinned up at Optimus, who smiled fondly at the boy in return. The other Autobots also waved at Sam, Ratchet voicing a "hello" of his own.

The four newest arrivals to the group, – Prowl, Wheeljack, and the twins Sunstreaker and Sideswipe – had quickly grown to like the human as much as the other Autobots. Sam had that effect on people. Bee watched the as the twins quickly swept the boy into conversation, likely involving their latest antics and the resulting tirade from Ratchet. He smiled as the boy began to laugh while the twins alternated the telling of the story.

"Bumblebee," the Prime spoke suddenly, and Bee's head whipped around to face Optimus, "you had something important to tell us?"

"Oh! Of course. I actually thought Sam might want to be the one to relay the news?"

Sam looked away from the twins at the mention of his name and, catching the gist of Bee's question, he nodded. His guardian quickly scooped him up to bring him eye-level with the enormous beings.

Sam glanced around nervously, visibly chewing on his cheek. His cheek would be sore later if he kept it up. "Right, well, uh...I'm not really sure there's any way to tell you guys this without you freaking out, so I'm just going to ask you to, you know, not freak out, okay? Or at least to tone it down a bit because it _really_ isn't that bad, I mean, I'm still alive, right? I'm right here, nothing's wrong–"

"Sam," Bee prodded gently, "you're rambling."

"Oh." Sam had the grace to blush. "Well, uh, yesterday something...interesting happened to me. I was at the lake with some friends, since Bee wasn't with me, and I was getting ready to go home when Trent started to make an ass of himself, as usual. I had turned to walk away from him when uh..well," Sam hesitated, completely unsure of how to continue. No matter how he sugar-coated it, they wouldn't take it very well.

"Sam, what happened?" Optimus prodded gently.

He audibly gulped before blurting, "Barricade was there."

Silence.

Then, without fail, Ironhide actually _shrieked_ (as much as someone like Ironhide can shriek), "_Barricade!_?"

His outburst immediately prompted everyone else to voice their input – loudly. Ratchet was swinging a tool about as he waved his arms angrily, and Wheeljack barely managed to duck, the lights on his head swaying to and fro. Sam quickly clapped his hands over his ears to avoid the steadily increasing din. Only Optimus was shocked into silence. Sam could still hear a few of the more vocal shouts:

"He found you!"

"How did he know where you were?"

"A Decepticon was still here, I should've _known!_"

"Did he hurt –"

"I can't believe –"

"Sam, you should have –"

"How could –"

"_Barricade!"_

Bumblebee, after watching his companions repeat his earlier reaction with no small amount of amusement, finally decided to end their tirade for Sam's sake. His human looked absolutely frustrated. Optimus, however, beat him to it.

"That's enough!" The commanding voice quickly blanketed the cacophony of angry voices, and Sam gratefully let his hands fall from his ears. "Sam," Optimus began, sounding both upset and worried, "if you say he was there, we believe you. I only recall now that Barricade was indeed unaccounted for after the war, though we all assumed him dead. We were wrong to assume, it seems. If you would tell us what happened in complete detail, we will listen," and here he paused, glaring sternly over his shoulder at the other Autobots, "without interruption."

Sam glanced gratefully at the Prime and quickly shifted his position in Bee's hand to get more comfortable before he began. He cleared his throat.

"As I was saying, Barricade was there, in car form, of course, and Trent quickly left after that because Barricade is disguised as a cop, right? Someone like Trent probably gets in trouble with cops. Barricade also had this hologram thing, too, it was pretending to be the driver or whatever. He told me to get in, and I really couldn't do anything but get in. I couldn't run or he would come after me, and I'd never make it. Then that would put the other people there in danger and I just couldn't do that. So I just...got in the car."

"You just _got in the car_," Ironhide snarled mockingly, but simultaneous death glares from Optimus, Bee, and Sam silenced him again.

"Anyhow," Sam sighed, rubbing his arm nervously, "he didn't hurt me, obviously. He said he wouldn't, and he didn't, but I don't know if that was a ploy to gain my trust or something like that. It could've been, you know? But he told me that he wanted to me to warn you, Optimus, about Starscream. That he would definitely try to attack again, and probably soon."

"Yes, we are aware that Starscream is gathering forces to return to Earth with intentions to engage us battle again," Optimus broke in, but Sam flapped a hand to silence him.

"That wasn't all. He said he wasn't going to fight. That...he wasn't going to be a Decepticon anymore."

"He denounced his faction?" Optimus remarked, surprised.

"Oh yeah, _sure_, Decepticons like him don't just denounce their faction. He was obviously trying to get you to trust him, Sam, so he can kill you!" Ironhide grouched.

"Yeah, but why didn't he kill me then? He had the perfect opportunity, I was completely alone and _inside the car_, he could have crushed me simply by transforming, but he didn't kill me!"

The gunner hesitated, opening his mouth and closing it again, before finally settling on, "Yeah, well...he's not joining our side!"

Sam couldn't help but laugh. "No, he's definitely not. He said he'd rather, uh...what did he say...'tear off his left arm' than join the Autobots? He was pretty clear about that."

"Why couldn't he tell us all this himself?" Sideswipe piped up. Sam shook his head.

"Think about it, a Decepticon you all thought dead rolls up in here with a message for Optimus. Do you listen, or do you shoot at him instead? I was the safest and most reliable way he could relay his message to you guys."

Bee scowled, images of a dead and broken Sam popping up unbidden in his head – if Barricade had managed to 'kidnap' Sam, who was to say Starscream couldn't do the same if he really put his mind to it? Guilt washed fresh into his spark again, for not being there for Sam. Bee would never forgive himself.

"He was able to kidnap you, Sam, I wouldn't say that was very safe for him," Bee said. "He's lucky I didn't try to hunt him down the second you told me he had found you."

Sam smiled fondly at his guardian, patting one of the massive fingers reassuringly. "That reminds me, Bee. He asked me to tell the rest of you to leave him alone, for good."

It was Wheeljack who spoke up. "Leave him alone? Why?"

"I think...he just wants peace, this time," Sam said slowly, and though he was slightly loathe to admit it, he actually felt that Barricade had been sincere in his intentions. He had said what he wanted to say, and now the former Decepticon wanted nothing more to do with them. Sam could not fault him for that.

"Fine, I'll leave him alone, but let him poke his ugly nose back around here and I'll scrap the slagger!" Ironhide growled, punching his fist into his other palm for emphasis.

Sam cringed slightly, suddenly remembering Barricade's current state. "Er, that reminds me...he was kind of damaged when he found me."

Ratchet's head whipped around. "Damaged? Was it serious?"

"Oh, well. It looked pretty serious, I mean, he was only in car form but most of his windows were busted, his hood was dented, his back end looked almost completely caved in, and he had a lot of really heavy dents everywhere else. I don't think there was a spot on him that wasn't damaged in some way."

"And you didn't bring him here for medical treatment? Sam!" Ratchet scolded, and Sam scowled.

"Hey, don't blame me! Half of you would've shot him on sight if I'd brought him here! And he said he didn't want any medical treatment. I wasn't going to make him do anything against his will. He _could _still have changed his mind and killed me, you know."

Ratchet huffed. "Did he say what had damaged him?"

"They were leftover injuries from Mission City. He said that he'd tried to fix what he knew how to fix, but the rest he couldn't do on his own. I practically begged him to come see you, you know, but he refused," he said, rolling his eyes in Ratchet's direction.

"If he does come back, for whatever reason, the first thing he will receive is medical treatment, and _not_ a couple of rounds to the face – _do you hear me Ironhide?" _Ratchet snarled, pointing a finger at the sneering gunner.

"Whatever," Ironhide snapped, feigning disinterest as he turned away from the group.

Sam smiled fondly at Ironhide, shaking his head at the gunner's antics. "Okay, fine," he sighed, turning his gaze to Ratchet. "if he comes back, you can hogtie him and have your way with him."

"Didn't know you swung that way, Ratch," Sunstreaker leered, and Prowl promptly conked him over the head. "_Ouch, _Prowl! What was that for?"

The second-in-command ignored him, instead turning to Optimus. "If Barricade does come back, what will we do, Optimus?"

"Ratchet's orders stand before mine. If Barricade is indeed as injured as Sam says, then our chief concern is to give him medical treatment, whether he is willing or not. No mech, not even Starscream, should remain in that kind of damaged state. Beyond that, we will simply...play it by ear."

"Alright, cool, Barricade's taken care of, but what happens if Starscream shows up?" Sideswipe spoke up.

Optimus sighed tiredly, glancing at the nearly darkened sky. "If he comes with hostile intentions, we will fight. I doubt he will have many words to exchange in favor of ensuring our deaths. Sam, did Barricade ever mention when Starscream would likely attack?"

Sam paused. "No. I remember him saying Starscream didn't know he was alive, so he hasn't communicated with him at all. He never mentioned when, only that he would definitely be attacking."

"If I know Starcream, he'll want to attack as soon as he's able," Ironhide piped up, forgetting that he had been ignoring the group.

"But you don't know Starcream," Bumblebee piped up innocently.

Ironhide glared.

"Ironhide has a point," Optimus broke in hurriedly before the two mechs could argue further. "Starscream isn't the patient type. I imagine that as soon as a few more Decepticons come to his aide, he will strike quickly, hoping to catch us off guard. We should be prepared for anything."

"Who do you think will come to help him?" Sideswipe asked.

Ironhide rolled his eyes. "Does it matter? A Decepticon is a Decepticon, so be prepared to fight any one of them." Sideswipe scowled at the gunner, but didn't say anything more.

"Is that all that you had to tell us, Sam?" Optimus turned to the boy, who was still in Bee's palm. Sam quickly ran over his conversation with Barricade in his head before he nodded, satisfied that he had relayed the message Barricade had given him.

"If that is all, then we should call it a night. It is time for some of us to recharge, and I have a meeting with Secretary Keller tomorrow about securing a base of operations," Optimus announced, and the Autobots slowly began to transform into their alt modes.

Sam, however, suddenly remembered a bit of his conversation with both Barricade and Bee. "Hey, Optimus? Can I ask you something after everyone leaves?"

"Of course, Sam," Optimus said, not bothering to hide the curious lilt to his voice.

Once everyone else had left, barring Bumblebee and Optimus, Sam remained in his guardian's palm, mulling over how best to ask his question. Optimus waited patiently, gazing fondly at the human, and Bee eyed his leader contemplatively.

Optimus owed his life to Sam. Everyone did. He had told Sam to push the Allspark into chest, thus sacrificing himself to destroy the Allspark so that Megatron wouldn't be able to use it. Instead, Sam had killed Megatron by pushing it into the Decepticon's chest instead of the Prime's. While the action effectively destroyed the Allspark, it also destroyed any hope of continuing their race. Cybertronians had become endangered, and war would not help them live any longer. Starscream, however, would never see it that way. Bee sighed internally, wondering if their war would ever end. Megatron was gone, but it seemed there would always be a mech to step up, willing to take his place.

The yellow mech was quickly shaken from his thoughts as Sam spoke up. "You knew Megatron before the war, didn't you Optimus?"

Optimus blinked slowly. "I..did know him, yes. Why do you ask?"

"I'm curious, I guess. What was he like?"

The Prime didn't speak for several moments. Finally, resignedly, he sighed, "Megatron and I co-ruled Cybertron together for a very long time. He was the Lord High Protector, I was the Prime, and everything was...peaceful. I was so naïve then. I thought, nothing could go wrong, we are happy, our race will flourish under our rule. I had...no reason to suspect Megatron would ever defect from his duties to start a war. It was just as much of a shock to me as it was to everyone else."

"What happened to him?"

Optimus gazed upwards to the stars, now bright in their dark blanket, as the sun had since gone down. "To this day, I do not know what provoked Megatron to start this war. Tyger Pax was a devastating blow to the rest of us – we lost so many that day. The rest of us, we are still fighting to this day, even though Megatron is dead. His actions, fully his own or not, started this."

"Could it have been a virus?" Sam questioned, and Optimus slowly shook his head.

"Most likely not. A virus would be sudden, yes, and it could explain his abrupt change and attack on Cybertron, but our systems are built to purge viruses after so long, to build up firewalls and eradicate them eventually. There were once viruses that were known to eradicate a mech's processor completely, but it would completely erase it, thus leaving the mech barely functioning, little more than an empty shell. Something else would have tainted him, for him to change so abruptly. What it was, however, I have no idea, and no way to ask him."

"Oh," Sam mumbled, and suddenly he felt very guilty, for everything. For the war, for Megatron, for his death, for Optimus's pain, for the deaths of the innocent. "I'm sorry," he muttered, averting his eyes to the ground.

"For what, Sam?" Bee spoke up curiously.

"For everything. I wish none of this had ever happened, ever, and that everything was okay. It's stupid to wish that, I know, but I just..wish that you never had to go through that. No one ever should."

Optimus smiled gently, locking eyes with Bee, who was shaking his head in amazement. "It is not stupid to feel as you do, Samuel. It is human nature to feel empathy for those they care about. The level you feel it for us proves how remarkable of a human being you really are, Sam. Do not be ashamed or sorry for that."

"I know," Sam offered a watery smile. "But I really am sorry. I...um, were you close to Megatron?"

The Prime's smile faded abruptly. "I...yes. We were close, once. But that was a long time ago." Sam couldn't help but notice the faraway stare, the sadness in his face. The tilt of his head said everything Sam needed to know. How close had they really been? He had called Megatron his 'brother' once, hadn't he?

"Do you miss him?" he asked softly.

Optimus was quiet for a long time. Then, "I would give up the Allspark ten times again if I could have the Megatron I knew back. I miss him, yes, more than anything."

Sam's heart ached for him in that moment, the silhouette of the great Prime against the rising moon, but his shoulders sagged and the powerful lines were broken with sorrow. It was a private moment, he knew, one that was never meant to leave the three of them, and Sam knew he would never mention this again.

Bee trilled softly behind him, and Sam's hand clenched at a large finger before rubbing it soothingly. Optimus turned to them, and suddenly he was the Prime again, standing strong and powerful. Sam almost regretted having asked him about Megatron.

"If that is all, Sam, I'm afraid I must take my leave now. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow." Optimus smiled gently at him, and Sam was relieved that his questioning had not made the Prime upset with him.

"Yeah, big guy, it's late. I'm done with you," he grinned, and Optimus's smile deepened before he transformed and drove away, and leaving Sam and Bee alone. Sam turned to look up at his guardian, the grin never leaving his face, but softening with familiarity.

"I really am sorry, Bee, for everything."

"Sam." His finger came up to gently trace up and down the boy's spine, soothingly, and Sam relaxed into his guardian's touch. "There is nothing to be sorry for. If Megatron had not started the war, someone else would have, eventually. The Allspark, with all its power, can easily inspire greed in a mech who wishes to play creator. There is nothing anyone could have done."

"I know," the human sighed, his eyes lidded as he slowly melted bonelessly into Bee's touch. "There is one good thing to come out of this war, though," he mumbled.

"And what is that, Sam?"

"I never would have met you."

Bee's spark sang. Now, now would be the time to tell him, it spoke, but his processor hesitated. Sam was too overwhelmed, he decided, so he held his tongue. He would tell Sam, confess everything, yes. But not tonight. Sam's voice suddenly startled him out of his inner monologue.

"Bee?"

"Yes, Sam?"

"Let's go home."

-:-

Back in the heart of Tranquility, Barricade shut his long-distance sensors off, settling deeper into the darkened parking garage.

"Interesting," he muttered quietly to himself, amused, before finally dimming his systems and slipping into a shallow recharge.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay! I am _terribly_ sorry about the wait for this chapter, not only did school try to swallow me whole (changed my major recently too, to pre-vet, that's gonna be fun), but I got a little bit of writer's block for this story. I got stuck on where to go next. I'd had half of this chapter written for like two months before I finally managed to break the dam and write up the rest within a week.

So, here it is! The long-awaited chapter. I'm sorry it's kinda short, I will definitely try to make up for it in the next chapter. Thanks so much for all the reviews I've gotten since, they really make my day, you guys are the best. I get tons of story alerts and favorites, too, thank you guys so much!

Enjoy!

-:-

Before that day, before that _damned_ Barricade had decided to butt his way back into their lives and remind them Starscream was still hanging around, Bumblebee had never quite realized, and subsequently hated, just how many planes flew over Tranquility on a daily basis.

It was incredibly frustrating to constantly go into alert mode, every bolt tensed anxiously, every time the roar of a plane's engine could be heard overhead, only to relax again once the plane was long gone.

Sam had noticed the tension as well, and while at first he would become silent and equally anxious every time Bee's sensors found an aircraft, he slowly began to become annoyed with Bee's "guard-dog" state. Every time he sensed a plane, Bee would force Sam to hide somewhere safe, usually inside of his interior or as close to himself as possible, and he wouldn't let Sam move or speak until the coast was clear.

He finally snapped a few days later.

"God damnit, Bee, when Starscream _does_ attack, he's not going to mosey out of the sky like _every single damn_ _plane_ that passes through does!" the boy growled from his position in Bee's driver seat as a distant plane puttered off into the sunset. "Starscream doesn't do stealth, he's going to come out of the sky like the devil himself and we'll be prepared whenever he fucking decides to do that! Now will you chill out? You're worse than Mojo!"

Bee, taken aback, took a few seconds to register Sam's words. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that I wasn't supposed to take my job of protecting you seriously, Samuel."

"Don't you _dare_," Sam hissed, leveling his best glare at the dashboard. "I know you're doing your job, I get that. I know you care, and really, Bee, I appreciate that so much, more than you know. But this is getting ridiculous! It's like every second of every day I have to keep looking over my shoulder and then you're screaming at me to hide and I just..I don't think I can do this, Bee. I can't take this kind of stress. It's-" but Sam stopped there, instead turning to glare out the window.

Bee knew what he wasn't saying aloud. The constant threat of Starscream and Bee's worry- he would concede that he had maybe been taking it a little overboard - had taken its toll on the boy. He wasn't sleeping. His appetite was affected. He couldn't concentrate. There were dark bags under his eyes and he had lost weight, and Mikaela had helpfully told Bee that Sam constantly fell asleep in class. As a result, his grades were starting to slip.

He didn't tell Bee any of this, and while Bee was a little hurt that Sam wouldn't tell him, he knew that Sam didn't want to place any more burden on his guardian. It was Sam's nature.

The mech sighed deeply, and Sam turned back to stare at the dash. His outburst long gone, he now looked drained, his body appearing to sag under some great weight.

"I'm sorry, Sam. Even if you won't tell me yourself, I can see the effect the impending battle is having on you. You feel responsible, don't you?"

Sam's mouth tightened, and he didn't answer for awhile. Finally, he reached a slow hand up to trace Bee's steering wheel. "I can't help but think he wouldn't come back here if it weren't for me. It makes no sense, I guess, since he would come back to try and kill you guys whether I existed or not but...I can't help feeling that. It's stupid. "

"No, Sam, it is not stupid. It's human. But you're right, Starscream would stop at nothing to end our lives. You are, to him, something else to destroy. I imagine he finds you an easy target, seeing how vulnerable the human race is, but I also think he underestimates just how far we will go to protect you, and the lengths of human resourcefulness."

"But what if one of you die protecting me, Bee?" Sam whispered, but Bee quickly shushed him with a cool vent of air.

"Don't think about that, Sam." Bee watched the boy slump into the seat, valiantly attempting to quell the tears threatening to fall as the weight of the past week finally fell upon him. He lost the battle, and fat tears began to rapidly slip from his eyes.

Sam was a silent crier. It was visible, the tears making his cheeks shine, and his eyes becoming red and a little puffy. But he made no sound other than the occasional sniffle. There were no shuddering breaths, no loud, body-wracking sobs.

Bee only warbled a few soothing tones. Words did not feel right in that moment. It did, however, make Sam's eyes slam shut as he tried not to cry even harder.

Eventually the tears subsided, the hitched breaths making way to even, calmer breathing. Sam's eyes drooped tiredly, having cried himself nearly to exhaustion.

"Sleep, Sam, I'll wake you up when we get home," Bumblebee said quietly. Sam mumbled something incoherent, burrowing further into the leather seats. The mech inwardly smiled, slowly pulling away from the Outlook and beginning the drive home.

-:-

Ratchet prided himself on being an observant mech - if he weren't, he wouldn't make such an excellent medic. He could pride himself on his humbleness as well, but that was an entirely different thought process.

As a thoroughly observant mech, he noticed things. Big things, small things, but he always _knew_.

This was how he knew a Decepticon had been following their group for the past day. The others had no clue - whoever it was, they were good at hiding themselves. They were likely small, easily able to hide.

But again, Ratchet was observant. The signal was faint, but his sensors were so fine-tuned to notice the most abnormal, abstract signatures, he had detected it almost immediately, alone with the faint sub-signal installed by Megatron in all Decepticons as identification. Of course, the reason he had started paying attention to his finer sensors was Barricade's success at hiding himself, but that was old news. There was _another _mech here now, and it definitely wasn't Barricade. He had no way of knowing who it was, but the current was small, almost insignifcant - as though the Decepticon had been insignificant.

He said nothing all day to the others. He knew it wasn't Starscream - that slagjob didn't know the meaning of the world subtlety. This mech, at least, was trying to hide itself. So, Ratchet waited.

The day was nearing its end when Ratchet finally managed to slip away from the other Autobots. Optimus had been keeping them all on a ridiculously tight rein since Barricade's warning, making sure that Starscream would not be able to slip past them.

Ratchet really and truly hoped, for their sake, that Starscream hadn't somehow retained some of his former intelligence and managed to sneak in a small, insignificant Decepticon to scout out Sam's location. If that were the case, _he_ had been the only one to detect it, which spoke numerous volumes about their own professionalism.

He was rapidly nearing its location. The signal was not moving, meaning the Decepticon was either unaware of his approach, or waiting for him. However unlikely it was, he hoped for the former. He had not wanted to bring along backup, as he didn't trust any of the other Autobots to not act irrationally. He was _at least_ hoping to get some information from the mech, if his hunch on 'small and insignificant' were correct.

He finally stopped near a junkyard towards the outskirts of town - it was rarely used save for underage drunk kids looking for a place to stash their bottles or hide from the cops. He gently nosed the gate open with his bumper - they were rarely locked, and the old lock was so rusted he could probably simply tap it off the chain.

It did not take him long to find the source of the signal - it would have been a complete understatement to say he was surprised at what he found.

He was curled up inside of the shell of an old Ford. The back was stuffed with greasy blankets and what looked like bits of mattress, and it was there the cat was curled up, sleeping peacefully.

"Ravage," the medic spoke aloud as he unfolded into his mech form, purposefully flaring his headlights in the cat's face.

One eye blinked open lazily, gleaming red in the darkness. "How rude," he drawled, completely unfazed by the appearance of the large Autobot. "I thought Autobots had manners and were _nice_."

"You must not interact with many Autobots," Ratchet replied flippantly, crossing his arms. "What are you doing here, Ravage?" It wasn't a question so much as a statement.

The cat opened the other eye before managing a yawn. "I have information for the Autobots."

This, Ratchet was not expecting. He quickly reined in his surprise, merely staring at the Decepticon. "Why didn't you seek us out? You purposefully waited for one of us to find you, didn't you?"

"How astute of you," Ravage sneered, flicking his tail lazily. "Think. What would have happened if I had simply walked into a veritable lion's den of Autobots? I would have been shot upon sight. Instead, I simply waited for one of you to realize I was here. I had _hoped_ it would be someone less..violent. It seems it's my lucky day."

Ratchet snorted. "So it would seem. As far as I know, I am the only Autobot aware of your presence. Everyone else is...preoccupied at the moment."

"I would assume as much," Ravage said grimly. "I'm sure your little Autobot friends will be missing you soon, so I'll get straight to the point. I have information about Starscream."

"Starscream," Ratchet breathed, but he knew better than to automatically believe the cat. "And why would you willingly give up information on him? As I recall, your master, Soundwave, is an extremely high-ranking Decepticon."

Ravage was quiet for many moments, his eyes elsewhere, before he suddenly turned to lock eyes with Ratchet. "Was. Starscream murdered Soundwave to secure his position as leader of the Decepticons."

The medic almost immediately understood why the cat was here. It could easily be a lie, of course - Soundwave could be alive and well, monitoring their conversation from a safe position. But something within Ratchet knew better. Ravage was not lying.

"And you would rather help the Autobots out than see your master's murderer thrive."

"Exactly," Ravage hissed darkly.

"I'm listening," Ratchet said quietly, gently prompting the cat.

"Starscream plans to attack tomorrow."

Ratchet could practically feel himself bristling at the blunt statement. He couldn't stop the onslaught of questions that subsequently tumbled out - "What? When exactly? How many Decepticons are with him? Where will he attack? Are you sure about this?"

"Patience!" Ravage snapped irritably. "I'm getting to all of that, if you would just _be quiet_."

He glared at Ratchet until the medic finally mumbled an apology and impatiently motioned for the cat to continue. Ravage's tail twitched in annoyance, and he sniffed haughtily before continuing his report.

"Anyway, I am most certain that he plans to attack tomorrow. He isn't very shy about letting his plans be known amongst his little underlings. As for when, he never said, so I would just assume be on your guard. He at least understands the Autobots are still around Tranquility, and he understands that is where the human Sam lives. He will be here, of that I am certain."

Again, Ratchet bristled at the mention of Sam, but Ravage quickly interrupted him. "Before you go rattling off more questions, you wanted to know how many were on Starscream's side. There are six other Decepticons, not including Starscream. There were two who left, refusing to fight any longer. I don't know where they went. Any others who would possibly join his side are scattered around other galaxies." Here he paused, his tail flickering back and forth thoughtfully. "I could name them for you, if you like."

"I would very much like if you could name them for me, Ravage," Ratchet sighed heavily. Six Decepticons was nothing to sneeze at, especially considering any who would stick by Starscream were probably just as vicious and bloodthirsty as the flier.

The cat smiled grimly, aware of the medic's inner thoughts. "Shockwave was one of the first to answer Starscream's call, and as of this moment I am almost positive he remains only to get revenge on Starscream for murdering Soundwave."

"Wait, what? Why?" Ratchet couldn't help but ask.

Ravage leveled a long look at the Autobot. "They were lovers, didn't you know?"

This caught Ratchet completely off guard. "I..uh..no, no, I didn't know. _Wow._" If he were being completely honest, he had quite forgotten Decepticons were capable of feeling love.

"Anyway," Ravage continued impatiently, "I'm sure you remember Thundercracker and Skywarp. They reluctantly signed on with Starscream, and mostly because they still hold some vesitigial loyalty to their trinemate."

"Those two are still alive?" Ratchet groaned aloud. "They're like a more sadistic version of Sunny and Sides. Just our luck."

"Indeed," Ravage grinned widely. "Astrotrain is also among them. He hates the Autobots, naturally, so of course he wanted his share of the destruction. Then there is Vortex, along with Rampage, and those are the only Decepticons that stayed."

"Fantastic," Ratchet groaned. "Good to know we've got a bunch of bloodthirsty Decepticons on our asses."

"Oh, don't worry too much. They don't know about the extra additions to your ranks. I only know because I actually thought to check it out. Besides, half of the Decepticons with Starscream would rather see him die than dispose of an Autobot. The battle will likely be in your favor."

"And what about you? Are you gonna fight?" Ratchet couldn't help but ask.

Ravage simply smiled toothily. "No. No, I will not be fighting. I've had quiet enough, thank you. I want nothing to do with Starscream, and I want nothing to do with your little crowd."

"So you're like Barricade then, huh? Neutral. Are you going to stay with him?"

"Barricade? No, no," the cat laughed. "Barricade and I don't get along all that well. He is far too impatient with me. Besides, he is neutral for...different reasons than me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ratchet asked, confused, but Ravage only slithered out of the car window before slowly sauntering away from the giant Autobot.

"Maybe you should ask Barricade what it's supposed to mean," he called over his shoulder before he disappeared, leaving Ratchet even more confused.

"Stupid cat," he muttered darkly to himself before quickly folding back into car form and making his way back to the others to share his newfound information.


	6. Chapter 6

I have no excuse! ;; School got in the way for awhile, I had to focus on making near perfect-grades to get scholarships back, but it's summer now! Then I was lazy for like a month before I finally finished this chapter. I am so sorry!

I will try not to be lazy anymore. But thanks for all the reviews I've gotten since the last chapter, the favorites and alerts, I appreciate it so much! Love you guys~

-:-:-:-

It had been a week since Barricade had sought out Sam. In that time period, Barricade had not once strayed far from Sam's house or school, despite the Autobots now knowing of his existence.

He couldn't bring himself to leave the human, and he absolutely hated it. He had tried, naturally. The night after Sam had told the Autobots about himself and Starscream, he had attempted to drive out of Tranquility, considering his work done. Halfway through the drive, he had retreated into his own thoughts, unconciously manuevering himself through the streets, and eventually found himself parked down the street from Sam's house. He had cursed quite a colorful streak, but hadn't tried to leave since.

He had, again, taken it upon himself to silently watch over the boy. Internally, he reasoned that he did not really trust Bumblebee with the job of protecting the human, but that implied that he _cared_, and that just wouldn't do.

Every little disturbance was setting him off as well, reducing the former commander into a mess of jumbled thought processes that barely left him at full function. He had only recently managed to accept that he was _worried_ about Starscream attacking, though for reasons he couldn't quit put a finger on.

At any rate, Barricade found himself watching the skies almost obsessively, keeping his systems constantly monitoring for threats.

There had been no trace of Starscream, or any other Decepticon, for that entire week, but today felt _different._ The air was stale, foreboding, leaving a souring impact on his mood. Something felt off, and Barricade only hoped it was just "a case of the Mondays," as some of the more revolting humans liked to put it. His instinct, though, refused to let him believe otherwise.

Nothing good was going to come from today, he just knew it.

-:-

Nothing good was going to come from today, Bumblebee just knew it.

The scout knew he wasn't the most intuitive of mechs. In fact, he blatantly stampeded over that line, preferring more straightforward tactics. Today, however, even _he_ could feel the shift in the atmosphere. Hell, even Ironhide had been tense all day, and the gunner was worse than him about matters of intuition.

Of course, Bee wasn't stupid. He knew better than to brush off the unsettling feeling in his core. With the constant threat of Starscream looming over their heads, he knew to be ready for anything. It didn't, however, stop him from wishing he didn't have to be.

It was Monday, and he had picked Sam and Mikaela up from school over an hour ago, proceeding to drop Mikaela off at her house before he and Sam headed over to meet up with the other Autobots. For the past week, they spent almost every waking hour with as many Autobots as could be spared - safety in numbers and such.

Currently, Ratchet, Ironhide, the twins, and now Sam and himself were convened at their usual meeting point, an open cliff towards the outskirts of the city, blocked off by a heavy wall of woodland. It was well hidden from human eyes, and should Starscream attack, it would be away from human establishment.

As soon as he drove up, he couldn't help but notice the incredibly tense atmosphere around his fellow mechs. Each one looked as though the slightest touch would send them off the deep end. The scout quickly unfolded from his car form as soon as Sam stepped out, leaning down to pick the boy up and place him on his shoulder before facing his grim-faced elders.

"What's going on?" he questioned uneasily, noticing Ratchet's deepening frown. Even the twins were quiet.

Ratchet spoke first. "I receieved...unsettling news last night after following a lead I had picked up on. While I initially had no reason to trust this source, I cannot ignore his warning."

"What source? What warning?" The uneasy feeling seemed to worsen, hardening in his core uncomfortably.

"I recognized a Decepticon signal, though faint, last night, and followed it to find Soundwave's underling, Ravage. He had apparently come to Earth to warn us that Starscream was going to attack."

"Wait, why did he warn _us_?" Bee quickly interjected, his curiosity getting the better of him. The medic huffed impatiently.

"Starscream was indirectly responsible for Soundwave's death, as Ravage put it. He feels resentful, and wished to end Starscream's life in any way possible, even if it meant helping us."

"When is he supposed to attack?" Sam asked quietly, and Bee suddenly dreaded the answer.

"Today."

The hardening in his core grew spikes, lodging into his systems and causing his vision to flutter. Shock, unease, dread - he wasn't ready for this.

"Where is everyone else?" he whispered. Ratchet placed a calming hand on his unoccupied shoulder.

"I have commed them, informing them of the urgency of the situation. They are all on their way, though Optimus will take more time than I am comfortable with."

"We have to hide Sam," Bee stated firmly.

"The _hell_ you do!" Sam spat angrily from Bee's shoulder. "I'm not a kid, Bee, I fought in the last battle. I fucking killed Megatron! I don't need to be protected."

The scout glanced down sharply at his charge, prepared to argue, but Ratchet cut neatly into their brewing argument.

"Boys," he admonished firmly. "Suffice it to say, we do not really have time for arguing over this. Sam, though I acknowledge your prowess in the last battle, I must remind you that you are very much human, and still very delicate. You will again be a target in this battle, and this time we do not have the luxury of Lennox and his team fighting beside you."

Sam scowled darkly. He knew Ratchet was right, but he hated being pushed aside, even if they had his best interests in mind. "I know, I know, I don't even have any weapons to _help_," Sam sighed uselessly, his spine losing some of his starch rather quickly. "I just hate feeling so useless."

"We don't know how much resentment Starscream feels towards you, and how far he will go to end your life. I must confess I am at odds at how best to protect you, Sam," Ratchet confessed softly, worry coloring his tone.

"I can take him," Sunstreaker offered quickly. "Get him away from Starscream and the rest, protect him should they find us."

"I appreciate the offer, Sunstreaker, but we need every mech we've got for this. Starscream has powerful mechs at his command. We cannot afford to displace even one of our number. I would suggest Sam hide, but it must be away from human civilization. We won't risk the lives of humans if we can help it, not today," Ratchet sighed, clearly at a loss.

Sam felt helpless, useless, even. He couldn't fight for the Autobots, he would just get in the way, probably even die. He wasn't about to ask any of them to take him into hiding. He would never forgive himself if an Autobot died because a missing one could have protected him. He knew it wouldn't be his fault, but he couldn't let himself live with that, either.

"Hide him in the woodlands. It's the best bet we've got," Sideswipe finally put in, shrugging his narrow shoulders. "We cannot take him furthur to more certain safety, due to risk of attack at any moment, and he cannot be caught in the middle of this or he will likely die. Hide him in the trees."

They all subsequently turned to look at the trees behind them. The area that led to the cliff was wide, open, and spacious - ideal for many mechs to move around freely. The trees that hid the cliff from the highway, though sparse at first, quickly grew dense and thick, some parts effectively blocking out sunlight.

It was, indeed, their best bet.

-:-

"I still don't think it's very fair that I have to hide here like a coward," Sam scowled darkly at Bee. The yellow mech sighed in response.

"Sam, you know it is not safe for you out there. Starscream will not hesitate to kill you - I think even he has it through his thick helm of his how important you have become to us. I won't risk your life like that."

Sam's shoulders sagged in utter defeat. "Yeah, I know. What good am I to you dead, right?" he smiled half-heartedly, but Bee only stared sternly down at him.

"I _will not_ lose you to Starscream, Sam. I would die before I ever let that happen. Do you understand that?" His voice was almost harsh in its sincerity. Sam had never doubted anyone's words less.

"I know, Bee, and you won't. I won't lose you, either. I'll stay here, don't worry about me. I'll be safe." He offered a smile, genuine as he could for how scared he felt at that moment, and Bee's features softened.

"I'll see you soon, Sam," he said softly, voice colored with affection. Sam returned the sentiment, smile still upon his face, and watched Bee as he turned and made his way back to the cliff.

"That was a rather revolting display of affection, human boy," a voice purred into his ear.

"Holy shit!" Sam jumped violently, scrabbling at the tree nearest him and barking up his fingers.

The large mechanical cat only stared indolently at him. "Are you quite done?"

"Who are you? Are you a Decepticon? How did he find me? He's not supposed to find me, oh god, I'm gonna die. I can't die, I promis-"

"Do humans _always_ talk this much? Really, now, I'm not that impressive, am I?."

Sam forced himself to breathe, slowly realizing that the cat was the only other one there. "I..uh..who are you? I'd like to know that, at least, you know...manners and all."

"Hmph," the cat scowled. "Designation, Ravage. You are the human called Samuel James Witwicky, I assume?"

"Yeah, I...wait, Ravage? You're the one who warned us about Starscream, aren't you?"

"I was." Ravage cast a shrewd eye over him, his tail twitching thoughtfully. "I assume you already know the details or you would have long since fled, screaming for your precious Autobots."

Sam scowled sharply. "Okay, _Ravage_, listen here. I don't need the Autobots to protect me all the time, you know. I am perfectly capable of protecting myself, especially from someone like you."

"I suppose that's why you're out here in the woods, then? Alone?" Ravage smirked darkly. "Never underestimate your opponent, boy. Though, I suppose the same could be said of you, defeater of Megatron."

"Damn straight," Sam mumbled, straightening againgst the tree. "Why are you here, though? I'd think after you told us all you knew, you'd be long gone by now."

Ravage turned his head away, staring into the sky for so long that Sam began to think the cat wouldn't answer him. "I won't tell you why I'm here because you won't believe me. Just accept my company as a token of peace," he finally said slowly, still not looking at Sam.

"Peace?" Sam questioned suspiciously. "I don't think I even believe that."

The Decepticon levelled a smirk at him before settling down next to him, completely at ease next to the defeater of his former leader. "Of course you don't."

-:-

"Where is he?" Ironhide muttered darkly. He had been pacing back and forth for the past hour, and there was already a furrow forming in the clay that made up the cliffside.

"Would you just _sit down_, Ironhide? You're making my processor ache. Prowl will get here when he gets here, there is nothing we can do to speed him up."

"He should be here now! Does he not realize the gravity of our situation?" Ironhide snapped. The mech was nervous, and he was taking it out on anyone that he could.

Ratchet sighed. He hated dealing with worried, nervous Ironhide, but snapping at him only made him worse. "Of course he does, 'Hide, it's Prowl. He is doing everything he can to get back here on time. Last he 'commed, he was less than two hours away, so he should be here any time now. _Relax_," he soothed, but Ironhide only shook his head and resumed pacing.

Bumblebee wasn't much better than Ironhide. His gaze was constantly flitting towards Sam's hidden position. Ratchet only hoped the scout had the good sense to avoid that area completely if Starscream did decide to show his face.

_'Ratchet.'_

'Oh thank Primus,' Ratchet thought dimly before quickly answering. '_Prowl, what is your position?'_

_'Only a couple breems distance. I assume everything is still calm due to the state you answered me.' _Prowl's stiff, official tone was oddly comforting to Ratchet in that moment. That and the other mech's closeness to their position reassured the medic greatly.

_'Yes, everything is still and quiet here. It's almost too still, but I'm hoping that's just me reading too deeply into the tension.'_ Things were too still. The birds had quietened, leaving the air feeling stale and taught.

_'I will be there shortly, and Optimus is not fa-'_

_Crack._

The comm was cut off abruptly and chaos erupted as a Decepticon warped amongst the middle of their group and immediately set upon the nearest Autobot, which happened to be Sideswipe.

'Skywarp,' Ratchet's mind helpfully supplied as he leapt into the fray, joining Ironhide in firing rounds at the rapidly moving Seeker. No other mech they knew of had the ability to teleport as he did.

It wasn't long before the rumble of jet engines rent the air. Ratchet barely had time to look up before the three newcomers were bearing down upon them. Thundercracker transformed mid-flight, unfolding and neatly landing next to Skywarp. They fought back-to-back, firing at the Autobots with everything they had.

The unidentifiable jet, which turned out to be Astrotrain, transformered shortly after Thundercracker, landing heavily in the midst of the chaos.

"Where's Starscream?" Ironhide bellowed whilst ducking a shot from one of the Decepticons. "He disappeared!"

"Shit," Ratchet muttered, quickly scanning the skies for any signal of the psychotic jet, but there was no sign of him. He instantly thought of Sam, hidden in the trees, and he fervently hoped Starscream hadn't somehow found out the boy's location.

Ratchet heard the shouts of his name, the roar of the jet and then the sound of gears clicking and shifting rapidly, and he had barely managed to turn and face his opponent before Starscream had gripped him by his throat, claws threading through the delicate wires underneath his armor.

"Where is the Prime?" His voice was harsher, more grating than Ratchet remembered from a few months ago. Still, he did not answer.

"Do not make me repeat myself, Autobot _filth,_" Starscream hissed, his hold tightening. All around Ratchet he could hear the sounds of renewed fighting, the groans of injury and the battlecries of retaliation. One other Decepticon, he could see, had joined the fray - a large mechanical tiger that was furiously battling Ironhide.

"Fine." Starscream's voice brought his focus back on his interrogator. The plasma cannon in his arm was rapidly charging, preparing to be shot directly into his chest. "We will just kill you al-"

Starscream was forcefully wrenched away by a powerful shot to his leg, his claws yanked out of the wiring in Ratchet's throat. The medic winced as he felt the tugs, a few being torn completely. He turned to locate his savior, but Prowl was already charging past him, still shooting at the downed Decepticon leader.

"About time you showed up!" Ratchet yelled, his voice broken but functional from the damaged wires. Prowl shot him a sharp stare.

"Assist me!" he yelled back, and the medic quickly moved to cover the second-in-command. '_Where is Optimus_?' Prowl commed as he fought, and Ratchet quickly scanned for the leader's presence.

'_Let me contact him,' _Ratchet hastily replied, but Prowl only waved him off and quickly pointed over his shoulder before ducking and firing a round at an advancing Astrotrain.

There was Optimus Prime, emerging from the dirt road in between the trees and driving towards them at full speed. He quickly shifted from his alt mode and lunged towards Starscream, who met him head-on, laughing.

"At last, Prime, you've come for me!" Starscream laughed harshly, lashing out at Optimus, who barely managed to duck. "Did you miss me?"

"You should never have come back to this planet!" Optimus roared in reply, managing to clip Starscream's shoulder and knocking the smaller flier off balance.

"That is no way to greet an old friend," Starscream sneered. "Tell me, where is the human boy? I know he can't be far from his precious Autobots."

"You stay away from Sam!" Bee cried, lunging at Starscream, but Skywarp knocked him back harshly.

"Still in love with the boy, I see? You grovel at his feet. Pathetic," the flier laughed cruelly. Bumblebee angrily struggled away from Skywarp and managed to shoot Starscream dead in the chest, knocking the laughing Decepticon clean over. His armor was smouldering from the blast, but he quickly struggled up before shooting off into the sky in retreat, rapidly folding into his alt form.

"Decepticons, fall back!" Thundercracker bellowed. They broke away, transforming and following Starscream. The flightless Rampage leapt upon Astrotrain before he took off, clinging for dear life as the Decepticon careened after the others.

"Where are my wounded?" Ratchet immediately rapped out, combing through the Autobots to find the worst of the injuries.

"Do not forget about your own injuries, Ratchet," Prowl said as the medic inspected torn armor plating on Sunstreaker's thigh.

"I won't, Prowl, thank you. But, I have to attend to those more seriously injured than myself first," he replied softly, stripping off the burnt armor and immediately setting to work repairing the wires beneath. Sunstreaker hissed slightly, jerking. "Be still," Ratchet admonished sharply, and Sunstreaker sank back down, sullen.

"We have not seen the last of him, Optimus," Bee sighed, staring after where the Decepticons had retreated. "He'll be back, and I'm afraid that he might bring more with him. Ratchet, you said there were six of them in all. There were only five today," the young mech observed. Ratchet only shrugged.

"Vortex, you mean? I don't know where he was. Maybe Starscream sent him on some sort of mission."

"Sam!" Bee shot up abruptly, looking toward the trees. "Do you think he sent him after Sam?" he said frantically, already running towards Sam's location.

"I would have sensed him there before my arrival, Bee, do try and calm down. It is best we go check on Sam now anyway, however, and bring him back here," Optimus said soothingly, but Bee had tuned him out, already halfway towards the tree line.

-:-

"Sam!" the young Autobot called out, weaving through the trees as he neared his human's location. "Sam! Are you alright?"

"Bee? Is the fighting already over?" Sam queried from his position underneath a tree, looking quizzically up at his guardian. "Why are you so freaked out? What happened?"

"Oh, thank- who is that?" Bee questioned calmly, levelling a blank stare at the mechanical cat next to Sam.

"Oh, that's Ravage- Bee! No!" Sam scrambled up and stood in front of the cat, blocking Bee's poised gun from Ravage. "He's okay! Ravage was the one who warned us, remember?"

"I don't trust him," Bee stated flatly, but lowered his arm so the gun was no longer pointing at Sam. "Why are you defending him?"

"He was here guarding me the whole time all of you were out there fighting. He _protected_ me, Bee." Sam crossed his arms, daring Bee to refute him, but the Autobot would not back down.

"I don't trust him."

"I don't expect you to, Autobot," Ravage supplied, weaving around Sam's legs. He stared insolently up at Bee, but did not leave Sam's side. "War has ruined any sort of trust we could ever have in each other, hasn't it? But, I intend to bring no harm to your lovely human. Prime's honor."

Bee snorted at the heavy promise, but he relaxed a bit nonetheless. "Come on, Sam. We need to go back to the others." He held out his hand for Sam to climb on. "Are you coming with us, too?" he asked the cat, a little more harshly than he intended.

Ravage only smirked lazily. "I'm afraid not, Autobot. I value my life a little too much to go anywhere in the vicinity of that crazy gunner on your team. Now that Sam is back in your hands, I will be taking my leave." With that, the cat quickly disappeared into the darkness of the thick forest, his signal rapidly fading.

"Whatever," Bee scoffed. "Decepticons seem to have a way of finding you, Sam. I don't like it, even if they claim to have good intentions. He didn't hurt you, did he, Sam? You can tell me."

"Of course not, big guy," Sam laughed, patting Bee's hand. "He's actually not that bad, you know."

"_That_ I refuse to believe," Bee said, rolling his eyes dramatically. Sam only laughed harder, shaking his head.

"So, what happened? I'm assuming everything is pretty much okay now, since you don't seem to be in a huge panic or anything like that."

"It went as well as it could have gone," Bee sighed. "Starscream will be back, though, that much I am absolutely sure of. I just hope we're ready for him when he does come. We had the advantage this time - we were warned. I don't know if we'll be so lucky next time."

"I hope so, too," Sam said quietly.

'_Bumblebee! Get your ass back here, now! We have a situation!' _It was Ratchet, and he sounded panicked. Ratchet and panic were never a good thing when put together.

_Shit._


	7. Chapter 7

Soo sorry again for the wait my lovelies! I am a terrible lazy writer who needs to be drawn and quartered. I can blame it on writer's block, however, and I will. I've also been working on more projects than I should and it's been getting in the way of this story. I have problems.

I hope this chapter is enjoyable, and don't worry, it gets pretty crazy here soon. The story doesn't have much left to go, so hopefully I can pull myself together and finish it before the year ends.

Thank you all again so very much for your support! The amazingly lovely reviews, the subscribers, everyone, I am terribly sorry to have kept you waiting and I love all of you. Truly.

-:-

The second Bee and Sam emerged from the trees Optimus swept down upon them, ushering Bee to walk faster.

"What's with the freakout, Optimus? What's happening?" Sam asked, completely confused.

"Shortly after you went to fetch Sam, Wheeljack detected a new incoming signal. Right after that, we noti- oh, go ahead, Jack," Optimus sighed, waving his hand tiredly at the scowling engineer.

"Thank you," Wheeljack stated pompously, sniffing. "I was afraid you would steal my thunder for a second there. Anyway, right after I detected the unfamiliar signal, I noticed it was coming right for us! It's due to crash within a radius of no more than 2 miles of our vicinity in about," the engineer paused, quickly running a mental calculation, before brightening, "1.4 Earth minutes!"

"Are we gonna go meet them?" Sam piped up, more curious than anything.

"Yes, we have to make sure the newcomer isn't a Decepticon, or if it is an Autobot, we must be there to greet it," Optimus confirmed.

"Maybe it's Vortex late to the party?" Ironhide butted in excitedly.

"Honestly, 'Hide," Ratchet sighed, shaking his head. "You're almost as bloodthirsty as they are."

"No, I just..didn't really get to use my guns, is all," Ironhide mumbled quietly, meekly waving one of his arms. Ratchet simply rolled his eyes.

"Uh, guys, hate to be a buzzkill here, but shouldn't we be, you know, meeting the newcomer pretty soon?" Sunstreaker cut in impatiently.

Optimus clapped a hand to his brow. "Oh, right! The newcomer! Yes, we need to be going now. Wheeljack, can you pinpoint where he will land any more precisely now?"

Wheeljack shrugged, pointing skyward. "Not too much I can do at this point, boss. He's already here!" Everyone looked up, immediately spotting the incoming pod hurtling towards them. "I guess he wanted to land near us, but who knew his accuracy was so dead on? I suggest we run for cover, and fast!"

The Autobots scattered like bowling pins. Bee cupped Sam safely in his hands and moved away as fast as he could without knocking the human around. He reached the trees just in time - the incoming pod crashed into the cliff, breaking through layers of rock and bouncing up onto the clifftop, where it skid across the ground for several hundred feet before finally slowing and coming to a stop.

The Autobots slowly emerged from hiding, eyes trained on the pod for any signs of movement. Nothing.

"Well?" Ironhide whispered loudly.

Optimus cleared his throat in a very human gesture before speaking loudly and officially in Cybertronian, "**You are amongst Autobots. What is your faction and designation?"**

They waited on tenterhooks for the pod to speak, unfold, do _something,_ but for a long moment it was completely silent. Optimus had opened his mouth to repeat his question with more force when the pod suddenly shifted. Plates rapidly moved aside, twisted, unfolded into the shape of the silvery exostructure of a tall, slender Cybertronian.

"**Autobot, designation Mirage. It has been awhile, Optimus Prime."**

"**Mirage? I thought you were dead!" **Wheeljack yelped, completely shocked.

"**We all did,**" Prowl said, eying the tall Autobot shrewdly. "**Where have you been? Where are the rest of your group?"**

**"Just the warm welcome I expected from you, Prowl,**" Mirage scowled, but quickly turned towards the Prime. "**For vorns my group and I were lost in a desolate galaxy, searching for the AllSpark. A small contingent of Decepticons had followed us, and we were attacked there. We were scattered, and I kept going, unsure if any of my group were still alive or not. I traveled far and long, until I eventually heard the Prime's transmission calling the Autobots here. I followed it, and managed to touch upon your signals from the outer edge of the atmosphere. I entered my trajectory path to land in your vicinity."**

**"That you did,"** Optimus sighed, eying the torn Earth where Mirage had landed. **"We are glad to have you, Mirage. None of your team has arrived. So far, we are the only ones here. There is much you must be filled in on. Come, I will tell you everything," **the Prime motioned for Mirage to follow him and the two strolled away, talking rapidly in Cybertronian.

"What just happened?" Sam asked, completely baffled at the exchange. "Who was that? I'm guessing he's friendly since Ironhide didn't shoot him on sight?"

Bee looked down at his charge, smiling slightly. "That was Mirage, an Autobot I personally haven't seen since we left Cybertron. Many of us thought he was dead. He was separated from his group, and managed to, by luck, make his way near enough to us that he heard Optimus's transmission."

"Wait, that's _the_ Mirage? From Starscream's story?" Sam asked sharply, his gaze snapping to the two now-distant figures on the cliff's edge.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. More Autobots are always welcome within our ranks, but Starscream will not take his appearance well. With luck, though, we can use this to our advantage. I can only hope Mirage will agree to keep fighting with us. He has always had a...volatile history with the Autobots."

"Volatile...was he a Decepticon once or something?" Sam asked, still eyeing the distant Autobot.

"Nothing like that, no. Mirage simply hated fighting. He considered himself above such things. He preferred leisure, luxury, that sort of thing. When the war broke out, he only joined our faction because we were _nicer_ than the Decepticons. That, and he believed we could end the war. In a way, we did, but not the way he wanted us to."

"Oh," Sam said eloquently. "What did he want, then?"

"He wanted a home to go back to. As it is, going back to Cybertron isn't very likely. We wasted our own planet, destroyed it with our war. Earth is the closest thing to a home we have now."

Sam swallowed thickly. "I'm sorry," he whispered, turning to look up at his guardian. "I can see where he's coming from, I mean, what if I had to leave Earth or something but thought I could always come back eventually, only to find out I wouldn't be able to? None of you can, I guess, and I really am sorry for that."

"It is alright, Sam. I am quite content to have Earth as my new home," Bee said, smiling at his charge. Sam grinned back.

He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off with the return of Mirage and Optimus. The slender Autobot looked tense. He stepped over to Bee and stared coldly at Sam, who had migrated to Bee's shoulder, and promptly gave an unimpressed huff.

"**So **_**this**_** is the native that destroyed Megatron? I don't believe it. How could such a tiny creature destroy such a fearsome being?" **Mirage shook his head, glaring down at the boy. Bee gave a sharp, warning click to the other Autobot, but Mirage only sent him a scathing look and turned away, his gaze sweeping over the treeline and the sky. **"This planet is disgusting. Too..organic."**

"What happened? What did he say? Why did he glare at me?" Sam whispered to his guardian, who snorted derisively.

"Mirage thinks he's too good for your planet, is all. He doesn't believe you destroyed Megatron, either."

"Oh." Sam shrugged, though he admittedly felt a bit uneasy around the newcomer. "To each their own, I guess."

**"Mirage, if you are going to remain with us on Earth, it would serve you well to learn some of their native languages. English will be your first priority due to our primary location, but learn as many as you please," **Optimus informed the tall mech, who was still scanning his surroundings.

**"Seriously?"** He asked, fixing his gaze on his leader. **"It's bad enough that I have to be here. I have to speak their primitive language as well? I don't want to."**

**"It wasn't a request, Mirage," **Optimus said sharply. Mirage scowled. **"You are also to treat the natives with respect, even if they do not in return. Understand? We are guests on this planet. You will also need to find an alternative form to change into to better blend in with the environment here. One of us will take you later to find one."**

Mirage glared at the Prime for several seconds before nodding tersely. **"Understood."**

"Don't mind Mirage, Sam," Ratchet piped up from his position nearby. "He's always been a bit of a stick-in-the-mud, but he is honestly a very loyal mech. Once you've earned his respect you would be hard pressed to find someone so willing to put forth their life for you."

"I doubt I'll get on his good side, but I'll take your word for it, Ratch," Sam grinned easily.

"Don't sell yourself so short, Sam. Mirage has an odd way of looking at things, he may yet come to like you," Bee quickly admonished, but Sam only laughed.

"I sound like such a terrible person when you put it that way," he joked, rolling his eyes dramatically for emphasis. "It's okay though, honestly. If Mirage never likes me, I'm okay with that, I'm very used to people disliking me. As long as he doesn't try to murder me in my sleep or anything."

"Can't promise that," Ratchet deadpanned.

Sam laughed loudly, earning a glare from a sulking Mirage.

-:-

Night fell on Tranquility, the moon climbing the sky until she could descend again, but Barricade was wide awake.

He was positioned down the street from the Witwicky home, as far away as he could allow himself to be at the time. The Autobot guardian likely knew he was there by now, but somehow the yellow atrocity had not come bearing down upon him yet, much to his surprise and quiet relief.

He refused to label it as worry, he was simply concerned for the boy. Vaguely concerned, at that, because honestly, he would be bored to tears if the kid died at the hands of Starscream. That was it, really.

He had only learned earlier that night (three point four hours ago his processor helpfully supplied) from _Ravage,_ of all mechs, that Starscream had all but staged guerrilla warfare upon the Autobots. Ravage had assured him that Sam had been safe, all the while smirking knowingly at Barricade.

The former Decepticon had almost immediately found himself down the road from the Witwicky residence, and while the boy and his guardian had not yet arrived home, Barricade waited. When they did finally arrive it was nearing midnight, but Barricade still did not leave.

It was around three in the morning, Barricade falling into fitful boughts of half-stasis that he constantly snapped awake from, systems alert, when the Autobot finally approached him.

Bumblebee drove quietly down the road towards his position at the end of the long suburbian street, rolling to a stop opposite the damaged police car. Barricade waited, tense and alert, for the Autobot to do something, anything, but the other remained silent for several long moments.

"Sam was not lying about the state you are in. I think he may have even under-exaggerated your condition," Bumblebee finally spoke, his voice soft in the quiet of night.

Barricade, to his credit, was left in a slight state of shock at the Autobot's first choice of words. He had honestly expected a raucous argument, perhaps to be flayed open with threats and insults, or even a physical attack, but instead Bumblebee seemed almost _concerned_ of his current condition. It felt slimy and raw to the Decepticon.

"You almost seem to care," he hedged suspiciously, gauging the Autobot's reaction.

Bumbleebee snorted softly, a human gesture. "Call it my 'humanity' showing itself, but even I do not like seeing others in pain, especially if they do not deserve it."

Barricade laughed darkly, harshly. "I deserve far more than this, Autobot, for things I have done. I am just finally paying my dues, I guess."

"So it's true, then? You're really not a Decepticon anymore?" Bumblebee blurted out, but then seemed almost ashamed of his outburst. Still, he did not take it back, and only waited for Barricade to respond.

"Of course it's true," Barricade snapped, more out of habit than actual annoyance. "Do you honestly think I would want anything more to do with those nasty little mechs? They want revenge, carnage, war, and I just want to be alone."

"So then why are you still here?" the Autobot said a bit unkindly, though a niggling thought in the back of his processor told him he didn't want to know.

Barricade laughed again, almost incredulously, but he surprised himself with his next words. "Honestly, Autobot, if you do not know the answer to that by now then I am certainly not going to tell you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bumblebee asked affrontedly.

"Either figure it out or ask someone who will actually answer you," Barricade replied snarkily, still snickering softly. Bumblebee sighed.

"Whatever. Just tell me you aren't...planning something. I won't really believe you but it's still nice to hear."

Barricade snorted softly. "I am not planning anything at all. I have my reasons for being here, but none of them are as sinister as you're thinking, I'm sure. Reasons, though, are not plans. Relax."

"I'll never trust you, even if I do think you're telling the truth. I can't just erase my distrust of Decepticons. I'm sorry." His frame seemed to shrug, moving listlessly, but Barricade scoffed.

"Don't apologize if you don't mean it. I don't ask you to trust me and I don't expect you to. I wanted to be left alone but, I see I'm not even going to be able to receive that treatment."

"What is Sam to you? You almost seem to watch him more than I do," Bumblebee said bluntly, changing the subject and effectively leaving Barricade speechless and grasping for words.

"I...I owe Sam my current position," Barricade bluffed, though he was not completely lying. "If he had not defeated Megatron and effectively ended that chapter of the war, I would still be stuck in my old role of the heartless, cruel murderer. You get tired of frightening kids at night sometimes, believe it or not."

Bumblebee huffed, and Barricade could imagine him rolling his eyes. "There is more to it than that. Even if you did owe him, you would not wait as you did until we arrived home, you would not stalk him everywhere you went, you wouldn't _care _this much. So, what is it?"

The ex-Decepticon cursed a silent blue streak at the Autobot's odd moment of clairvoyance. "I'm not telling you anything more. Like I said, _figure it out._"

Bumblebee growled audibly, clearly frustrated. "I swear if you harm Sam in _any_ way, I'll-"

"I would not dream of it," Barricade hissed, effectively cutting off the Autobot's brewing tirade. "Now, if you are quite finished interrogating me, I'd like to sleep sometime tonight, if that's alright with you."

Barricade could practically feel Bumblebee scowling darkly. "I just had to make sure. Sam is very important to me, and I value his safety above my own."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Now, if you would be so kind..."

"Whatever, yeah. I'm done here."

"Bye," Barricade all but growled grumpily. Bumblebee scoffed and turned away wordlessly, turning completely in the street before driving back towards the Witwicky house.

The ex-Decepticon watched him go tiredly, his frame almost visibly sagging. He knew better than to completely hope the Autobots would leave him alone- _especially_ that one. Still, he supposed, it was enough that they cared for the boy as they did. For that, he was grateful. Sam was not in negligent hands. Still, he could not allow himself to leave, for Sam's sake.

Though he had been fighting it tooth and nail, so to speak, Barricade knew his obsession for the boy stretched far beyond simple boredom. His stubbornness still refused to allow him to think beyond that, but his implied feelings were enough for him to cope with. He knew some of the more astute Autobots had probably figured it out for themselves by now- Ratchet, most likely, the bastard. With Bumblebee there, though, Barricade knew he would have to wrestle his attentions into submission. The Autobot was Sam's closest friend, he was very clearly enamoured with the boy, and though Barricade was loathe to admit it, Bumblebee was far better for Sam than he could ever hope to be. The ex-Decepticon was many things, but he was no home-wrecker.

Sam deserved happiness, and Barricade would give him that.

-:-

Ravage, from his position in the bushes across from the Witwicky home, fretted nervously by curling his claws into the foamy dirt. It would grit against the gears in his paws later, and he would regret it, but for now it was a welcome distraction.

He had hid his outgoing signal once again, all but invisible to those who didn't know how to look for him, and he watched both the house and Barricade from his hidden vantage point. Like Barricade, he had grown oddly protective of Sam, and he silently marveled at how easily the boy could capture positive attention from the strangest of creatures. Even surly, angry mechs like Barricade grew fond of him.

Still, Ravage was worried.

Something deep within his spark curled and lashed out mercilessly, digging into his insides. Ravage knew better than to ignore these feelings the few moments they did come upon him.

Something bad would happen very soon. What, exactly, he was not entirely certain. The cat figured his best bet was to help keep a protective eye over Sam, for whatever it was it would surely affect Sam in some terrible way.

He turned his gaze skyward, admiring suburbian stars and wondering where Starscream was hiding, what he was planning. A proverbial storm was brewing in the distance, and it would leave terrible destruction in its wake.

Ravage sighed. "Starscream, if you hurt this lonely boy, I vow I will see your spark die before my eyes and I will dance upon your dead body," he promised softly. His words, though out of character, were stated only because he knew no one was watching.

The cat lay his head upon his paws, his spark still churning too hotly for him to sleep. He knew better than to fight his protectiveness of Sam, unlike Barricade. Though a sarcastic, selfish creature who rarely showed such devotion, Ravage fiercely protected what was his.

And Sam, now that Ravage had nothing left to protect, had become his.


	8. Chapter 8

Oh my god. I've finally managed to finish this damn chapter. I'm so sorry it's taken so long! I wrote it about halfway months ago and I got so stuck, I hated where it was at and couldn't think of where to take it...but one of my professors recently taught me that I should never be afraid to write badly, as long as I'm writing. So, I finally sat down and wrote it all out, despite not being too fond of what I was writing.

I hope it doesn't disappoint to much! I promise there will be much more action very soon...the story doesn't even have that much to go! :)

-:-

"I don't want to."

Optimus sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his would-be nose. "This, again, isn't a request, Mirage, it's an order."

"I will not be made into some guard dog for such a primitive creature!" Mirage snarled, stamping his foot almost childishly. Optimus noted with distant amusement that despite Mirage's protests of the planet, he had picked up their mannerisms rather quickly. "I don't care if Starscream wants him dead, maybe you should just hand him over already! Save us a lot of trouble."

Bumblebee gasped sharply, anger quickly clouding his vision. "How dare you say that about the human who basically saved your life, Mirage. If it weren't for him, we would all be dead by now! It's because of Megatron, not Sam, that we no longer have a home, and you need to grow up and deal with that! Don't blame someone else for your problems."

"I don't care!" the outraged mech shouted back, nearly vibrating with anger. "I don't care what he did, he's still absolutely worthless to me and you can't force me to be civil to someone who is so utterly beneath me. I hate this damn planet and I hate…ugh!" Words strangled in his throat, and Mirage instead threw his hands up in clear frustration before rapidly folding into his recently acquired car form before speeding away, dirt and pebbles crunching and flying under his tires.

Silence reigned for several seconds. None of the present Autobots knew what to say, instead shifting uncomfortably as they stared at the deep tracks Mirage left in the soil.

"That went well," Sunstreaker finally said sardonically, crossing his arms to look pointedly at everyone else. "I don't want to say I told you so but, um…I did tell you so."

Ratchet rolled his eyes. "Doesn't mean we didn't hope for a better outcome."

"Mirage's issues clearly cannot be solved by us being angry with one another," Optimus spoke up. He looked far too tired in that moment, time seeming to sag on his shoulders. "When he comes back, we will attempt to rationalize with him once again-no yelling this time." He glared at Bumblebee, who quickly made to protest, but Optimus cut him off with a sharp wave of his hand. "Mirage needs time to settle. For someone as proud as him, recent events would naturally be a very big shock to him. Perhaps I pushed him into this too fast."

"Or perhaps he needs to get his head out of his ass," Ironhide growled, scowling angrily in the direction Mirage left.

"Or that," Optimus shook his head wearily. "Either way, yelling at each other will solve nothing. If he does not come to understand our position, then I can only leave him out of this war completely."

"He says he still wants to fight, though, for whatever reason. What about that?" Wheeljack pointed out.

"If he can't come to at least respect Sam's role in this war and what he has done for us, then Mirage has no just cause to fight for the Autobots anymore. The old war is over - a new one has started, and if he can't accept that, then I will not allow him to fight with us."

"So you want him to turn to the Decepticons, by pushing him away? The last thing we need is for them to gain a new recruit, especially someone who would resent us. You're better than that, Optimus," Ratchet said softly. His advice wasn't often, but Optimus tended to listen when he gave it.

"You forget who Mirage is, Ratchet, and what he is to Starscream," Optimus reminded the medic, giving him a pointed look.

"Oh," Ratchet said eloquently, put off. "I forgot about that."

"We still can't just throw him away because of that. We should let him decide, once he's cooled off," Sunstreaker interjected. "We don't need any enemies of any kind at this point in time, and neither do the humans."

"So what do we do, then?" Ironhide asked gruffly, turning his glare to the twin.

"Um, we, uh…we just let him cool down and don't...do anything rash and we let him come back to us and we…don't glare at me like that, okay?" he whined at Ironhide. "It throws me off!" Ironhide simply snorted, amused.

"So it's settled, then. When Mirage comes back we talk this out rationally," with that Optimus gave a sharp stare to Bumblebee, who had remained stubbornly quiet on the subject, "and we see what happens from there. Good?"

"Great, amazing, now I have to go wake Sam up for school and guard him while he's in class because at least I care about him, unlike some mechs," Bumblebee snapped.

"We'll go with you!"

"We'll help!"

The twins instantly flanked him, nearly bouncing on their feet with excitement. Bumblebee sighed, all the anger suddenly drained out of him. "I'd rather have Mirage," he grumbled, though he was smiling softly. The twins only laughed and winked at each other.

"I'll allow you two to go, but you have to promise not to cause any trouble. Nothing at all, okay? Do as Bumblebee says, I don't care if you're both older. He's been here the longest and Sam is his charge, so he gives the orders. Understood?" Optimus glared at both of the mechs, who only nodded far too enthusiastically. The older mech just sighed, clearly resigned. "Whatever. Just try not to cause too much damage."

"Oh my god," Bumblebee cried out as the twins immediately began to yank him away, far too excited for such a simple task.

"This should be interesting," Prowl noted dimly, watching the three mechs leave.

Ratchet turned to stare dumbly at the black and white mech. "Did you just make a joke?"

-:-

Sam awoke to sharp, pointed tapping on his window. He poked his head from the comfort of his many blankets, gazing blearily at the offending window in an attempt to discern the source of the disruption. As his eyes focused to the still near-dark of his room and the outside, he groaned loudly, dropping his head back to his welcoming pillow.

"No, Bee, g'way," he mumbled, burrowing deeper into his nest. His guardian's tapping only got more insistent.

Sam again groaned deeply before resigning himself to answering Bee's persistent beckon. He slowly managed to uncurl himself from the cocoon of blankets and stumble to the window nearest his computer. Unhooking the lock, he swung the window open and poked his head out into the sharp morning air.

"What," he asked muzzily, still blinking sleep from his eyes. "'m not supposed to be at school for...while..," he ducked his head back inside to glare sleepily at the angry red numbers on his alarm clock. "Hour. A whole hour, Bee."

Bee did not even bother to hide his amusement of Sam's early-morning coherency. His ward did indeed have roughly another hour of sleep before he needed to begin his morning routine, but there were outside factors insisting otherwise on this particular morning.

"Normally I would grant you as much sleep as possible, Sam, but today the twins were quite insistent upon accompanying us to school. Mirage was the original mech designated to help, however he refused." He paused for a moment, attempting to forget Mirage's harsh words from earlier. "The twins are quite insistent that I woke you as soon as possible. They weren't above threats, either, so I thought it in my best interests not to ignore them."

"The twins are here?" Sam asked sleepily whilst rubbing his eyes with one hand, attempting to wake himself further.

"Indeed," Bee huffed. "But hurry, Sam. The humans of your neighborhood will be awakening very soon; I cannot afford to be seen like this. We'll be waiting for you once you're ready. Do try not to fall back asleep, or I'll be forced to take drastic measures." Bee winked slyly, causing Sam to snort into his hand.

He shooed the mech away with his other hand. "Get outta here," he mumbled good-naturedly before turning to trudge around in his dirty clothes, sifting for the cleanest ones.

Bee shook his head fondly at his human's back. Turning, he carefully toed his way across the Witwicky's pristine backyard until he was able to fold back into his car form and rejoin the twins. They were waiting patiently-almost too patiently-in the wide street in front of the house.

Their unnerving silence immediately made the scout suspicious. "What is it now?" he asked almost tiredly, eyeing the two warily.

"Nothing, man!" Sunstreaker piped up innocently.

"We were waiting on you," Sideswipe added, rocking casually back and forth on his frame.

"Uh huh," Bee said slowly, pulling to a stop beside them. "Forgive me if I don't believe that for a nanosecond, will you?"

"You wound us, Bumblebee!" Sunstreaker cried melodramatically, accompanied by his twin's snickering. "Here we lend our time by dutifully helping you protect the human boy, and you accuse us of conspiracy! I should be offended."

"You'll be a little more than offended if I find you are planning any sort of prank. I tend to recall your pranks being a bit on the destructive side," Bee said dryly, running a monitoring scan on Sam. He was in the kitchen. Bee relaxed-he had not fallen back asleep, thankfully.

Sunstreaker muttered something rather sour under his breath, but mercifully remained silent after Bee's reprimand.

They were saved from further conversation by Sam's emergence from the house. He had a bagel haphazardly stuffed in his mouth and was sluggishly trying to pull the other arm of his coat up to where it belonged, though the coat was resisting beautifully. Once he successfully straightened himself out, while managing to maintain an impressive hold on the bagel with his teeth, Sam opened Bee's door and climbed inside. Though it was barely past dawn, they were still conscious of early-rising neighbors.

Sam tugged his breakfast from his mouth and swallowed, sending Bee's dash a light scowl. "I know the twins are impatient and all, but can't they wait like decent super-intelligent aliens for me to wake up at a normal time? I've still got like, an hour before people even start getting to school."

Bee huffed exasperatedly. "Try telling them that. They basically promised their own form of destruction if I didn't wake you up as soon as we got here. Heaven forbid the twins ever get bored."

"Why did they even come along today?"

"Oh," Bee hissed sourly. "Optimus, for some damnable reason, decided Mirage would make a good secondary guard for you while you were at school, but he refused and high-tailed it somewhere to pout. The twins graciously decided to tag along."

Sam twisted in the seat to stare at the two flashy Lamborghinis flanking them. His sleep-addled brain appeared to be working on some form of conclusion, if the furrowed brow was anything to go by, when Sam suddenly paled and whipped around to face Bee's dash.

"They can't come!" he hissed sharply, startling his guardian.

"What? Why not?"

"Well, look at them! I already get hell from having supposedly having a brand fucking new Camaro as my car. How am I going to answer also being accompanied by two driver-less Lamborghinis? I can't possibly explain that!"

"Oh, I suppose I didn't even think of that. They can forge holograms, though, to simulate the appearance of a driver."

"That doesn't help a damn thing. It'll raise far too many questions to be escorted by two insanely expensive cars to my high school."

Bee sighed, quickly realizing Sam had a point. The twins would only make things worse for Sam, and raise far too many unexplainable questions that would put his ward into an even more suspicious light. They could not risk the exposure.

"I cannot exactly send them back, Sam. They are still very much needed today, and extra guards will continue to be needed, due to Starscream's increased hostility."

"So make them wait in an area that they won't be spotted by the students, but still close enough to the school that they can keep an eye on me. Will that work?" Sam suggested, his forehead once again creased in heavy thought.

"It is a valid suggestion, however I cannot leave them to their own devices either. I've been subject to double guard duty today-" Sam could practically see the rolling of Bee's eyes, "and I have to keep an eye on them. Despite the fact that I am more or less in charge today, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are not very inclined to listen to anybody, much less me."

Sam hummed, still deep in thought, as he gazed at Sideswipe in the driver-side mirror. "Oh!" Sam brightened instantly, his hands tightening in their clutch on Bee's wheel. "How about this-I pretend my cousin or something is in town and is dropping me off in my car because he wanted to drive my car or whatever, who cares, but that can be your hologram driving me to school, and you leave and meet back up with the twins to guard me from a safe distance. When school is out, you just come and pick me back up!"

He was practically bouncing in his seat from excitement at having come up with the idea, and Bee couldn't help but laugh. "That is not a bad idea, Sam. What do you two think?"

Sam glanced around in confusion, wondering who Bee was referring to, when Sunstreaker's voice caused his gaze to snap back to the radio.

"Sounds good to me, boss dude! Sam's got quite the brain on him, don't he?"

"I'm okay with the plan as well. Good job, Sam, you saved us some monumental boredom from sitting outside the school all day!" Sideswipe piped up. The effect of hearing his voice disconnected from the body driving just behind them was a little surreal to Sam.

"In that case, Sam, kindly move into the passenger seat."

"Oh…um, alright," Sam blinked, eyeing the area in between the seats that he was expected to crawl over. He didn't want to accidentally step on something sensitive, and his apprehension must have clearly shown on his face, for Bee chuckled quietly and quickly made to reassure his ward.

"Relax, Sam, and just climb over. You will do nothing to cause me discomfort, I promise," the Autobot reassured gently. Sam rolled his eyes at Bee's formal tone and quickly scrambled into the passenger seat.

He made short work of the seatbelt; once he turned back toward the driver seat, however, he jumped slightly upon seeing Bee's hologram already in place. The handsome blonde gave him a warm smile and Sam could not quite fight the blush that bloomed across his cheeks. He cleared his throat awkwardly, quickly looking away from Bee and toward the floorboard.

"I…I didn't know they could hear us," Sam mumbled rather lamely, gesturing towards the radio.

"Normally they would not be privy to our conversation, but since they graciously lent us their help today, I decided to key them into my communication channel so that they could be a part of any of our conversations without my having to constantly relay pertinent messages to them," Bee explained easily, and Sam couldn't help but smile at Sunstreaker's enthusiastic affirmative sparking from the radio.

"That's pretty handy then, isn't it."

"It is! And we can hack into it if we please and spy on you and Bee all the time," Sideswipe cut in, sounding thoroughly amused at Bee's indignant noise.

"My channel is far too secure to be hacked by some amateur twin pranksters, thank you very much," Bee huffed, though his tone lacked any real bite. It rather seemed he was playfully arguing back with the two other mechs. Indeed, the blonde in the driver's seat was smiling fondly. Sam rolled his eyes at their antics and finally turned his gaze to the outside world.

They were nearing the school, and Sam could already see the nearly deserted parking lot. Only the principle and a few staff and teachers were ever at the school at such an early hour - the students would not be trailing in for another thirty minutes. Sam sighed despondently, leaning back into the passenger seat and fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt. It was a little wrinkled, having been hastily plucked from the hamper. He spotted a faint yellow-y stain on the chest and attempted to scrape it off with a tongue-wet forefinger, but the stain stubbornly remained in its spot. He briefly thought about sniffing the spot to determine its origin, but one glance at Bee's hologram quickly convinced him otherwise. Under normal circumstances he would not have hesitated to be so "gross," as Mikaela liked to say, but something about seeing a humanoid Bumblebee next to him halted any normal progress his brain tried to come up with for him. He was no longer Sam, but a fumbling, self-conscious teenager.

He stubbornly dismissed thinking Barricade did the same thing to his nerves as Bee was doing now.

His mouth twisted in thought and he inclined his head to Bee, debating on whether or not to voice his question; Bee would likely get annoyed, or even angry. He decided to go for it.

"Hey, Bee?" He waited until the hologram turned it's unnaturally blue gaze to him. "What do you think Barricade is doing right now?"

Bee's face instantly clouded darkly and he eyed Sam suspiciously. "Why do you care?" he asked a little too sharply. Sam flinched at the tone, and his face softened. "Sam, he's...he's a Decepticon. Why would you even ask?"

"I just...I don't know, maybe it's my weird bleeding human heart but he did help us, you know? When he didn't have to. He could have just as easily left us to fend for ourselves and trotted off to some remote part of the states and done...something, I don't know. He just didn't have to do what he did for us and maybe I'm a little grateful for him." Sam shrugged, a little too nervous to meet Bee's eyes after his explanation. He stared at the floorboard again.

Bee sighed. He drove past the school, quickly explaining to the eavesdropping twins that they would circle the blocks for a bit before dropping Sam off, and turned his gaze back to his ward.

"Sam, I must admit your heart is...a bit different from most I've met. You have large quantities of compassion within you, not something many of my kind can boast. We are capable of it, and even to large degrees, but I have never met one like you. He tried to kill you, multiple times, tried to kill your friends and myself and many of the other Autobots, and yet you care to know if he is alright." He smiled at the dark, sheepish blush creeping onto Sam's cheeks. "It is an admirable quality, Sam. But, to spare you further embarrassment I will answer your previous question - he is still around the city, watching for signs of Starscream. I have been keeping tabs on him, so to speak, and he has done nothing to warrant suspicion. Does that help you?"

Sam quickly warded off his blush. He made a mental note to keep his inquiries about Barricade to a minimum - he did not want Bee to grow wary of his newfound fascination for the former Decepticon. "It does, thank you."

Bee cast a glim eye over his charge before mentally shrugging. "Did my pointing out one of your qualities make you uncomfortable?" he asked, as blunt as usual. Sam snorted.

"I'm just not very used to someone complimenting me so...thoroughly," the boy said with a small smile. "It was very nice to hear, I just...get a little awkward when people say that."

"So why were we talking about Barricade?" Sunstreaker's voice suddenly crackled through the radio. Sam jumped a mile and Bee sighed, shaking his head exasperatedly.

-:-

He tapped his pen on the faux wood desk in an erratic rhythm, impatiently staring at the clock and wishing for the class to be over. He hated math.

Mrs. Malt cleared her throat loudly, startling his attention towards her. She was glaring. He quickly set the pen down with a sigh, again wishing deeply that the bell would ring at that very moment. He glanced again at the standard wall clock - twenty-five minutes to go.

He raised his hand so quickly it nearly leapt from the socket. "Can I go to the bathroom?" Mrs. Malt eyed him distrustfully but eventually shooed him away with a warning to return in five minutes or he would be assigned detention.

The bathroom was empty so he loitered around one of the sinks, attempting to pass as much time as possible before having to go back to class. He glanced into one of the mirrors and nearly screamed at what stared back at him, but managed to reel it into a loud gasp instead.

He whirled around to face the open stall, a hand clutched over his racing heart. Ravage was staring back at him with a toothy smile, clearly pleased at having scared the boy.

"I was hoping for a more dramatic response but that will have to do...no need in getting found in a human school's bathroom, is there?" Ravage drawled.

"How did you get in here?" Sam demanded. His eyes darted around the bathroom despite knowing it was otherwise empty.

"I walked in," the cat responded drily. Sam stood up straighter, giving Ravage a withering stare. "There's the sassy boy I know and love," he grinned widely, tail flickering in pleasure.

"Then why are you here?"

"I've come to warn you," Ravage stated abruptly, his tone darkened.

Sam's head jerked back in mild surprise. "I've been getting a lot of those lately. What is it this time, Starscream coming to school with me?"

Ravage frowned thoughtfully. "Something like that."

Sam's stomach dropped.

"He knows where you go to school now, and when. The Autobots underestimate Starscream. He is clearly not in his right mind, of course, but he is also still very intelligent, and determined enough to find that which he seeks."

"So, he found me," Sam stated weakly, shock dropping into his knees and making him feel heavy. He grasped the dirty sink for support.

"He did. However, if you and your precious Autobots act soon, you can deter him - from attacking the school, at least," Ravage pressed, attempting to keep the boy on track.

Sam perked up. "We can? How?"

Ravage smiled thinly. "Bring him to you. If he has not come by now he won't today, but he will very soon if you don't do something. You must bring the fight to him. If he is not defeated soon, then I fear he will only grow stronger, more vengeful, and your kind will suffer. Megatron has done enough, we don't need another war."

Sam's mood was thoroughly trampled by Ravage's somber speech, but he nodded. "Then we will bring the fight to him, today. God, what would everyone say if they knew I was leaving school today to go fight in a battle that could potentially save the world," he groaned, rubbing his face with one hand.

"I doubt it would be a 'thank you.'"

"You're probably right," Sam sighed. "Then I have to tell Bee as soon as school's over. Where is he, do you know? How do we get Starscream to come to us?"

Ravage shook his head. "Your Autobots will know. The easy answer, though, is you."

"Me? What.."

"Don't you have a class to return to?"

Panic lanced through him and Sam bolted towards the door, mumbling rapid expletives on the way.

"You're welcome," Ravage drawled sarcastically before hopping from the back of the toilet and sauntering calmly out into the hallway. Sam would have had a fit to see him leave so casually, he thought.

-:-

He raced back into the room with an angry teacher to greet him and three minutes of class to spare. A hastily procured explanation attempted to tumble from his open mouth but Mrs. Malt's veiny hand stopped him.

"Detention this Thursday, Mr. Witwicky."


	9. Chapter 9

I'm really, really sorry to have not updated for like, six months just to drop this bombshell on you guys. Don't murder me, I have to finish the story! ;~;

School, writer's block and general laziness is still to blame. I'm awful. Please don't hate me. Not too fond of the very last bit of the ending, it felt like it dragged on. I wrote it pretty quickly, but whatever. Got the job done.

-:-

Sam tapped his chewed pencil against the desk, his gaze firmly fixed upon the clock mounted above the door. He was very much aware of the sense of déjà vu the situation gave him. He did not find it amusing in the least.

The detention teacher glared primly at him, her mouth stretched in a thin red line so severe he could practically feel his skin being mentally flayed off with each loud tap of his pencil. She said nothing, though, preferring to keep to the stiff silence that had settled over the room. The other two kids in the room, a messy looking boy with baggy jeans and a rather scared looking girl kept glancing hesitantly over at him. He sighed loudly, nearly startling the timid girl from her seat. He rolled his eyes.

He had already sent Bee a text directly after class describing his situation, and his guardian had replied with a reprimand that sounded exasperated even through the words on his phone screen. Sam couldn't blame him; he was incredibly frustrated and, quite frankly, a little terrified of what could happen to the entire world now that he was held back an entire forty-five minutes after school.

Of course, he couldn't relay this particular problem to the detention lady. She'd likely stick him with a longer detention out of spite.

He sighed and relegated himself to the _long_ remaining twenty minutes.

-:-

"God, you guys, I am _so _sorry about that, the teachers hate me here I swear," Sam babbled as he swung his bag into Bee's interior, immediately followed by himself.

"It's all good, dude!" Sunstreaker quipped through Bee's radio. He had changed his audio tone to a bad parody of a Californian surfer, and Sam couldn't help but snort. The stereotype actually rather fit Sunstreaker. If the mech had been born on Earth, Sam had no doubt he would have been one of those surfer boys that woke up at dawn to catch the best waves.

"No worries, Sam. I have been monitoring the skies and have long since alerted the others of Ravage's warning. I will say, though, that I am not entirely comfortable with how easy that cat was able to get into your school. If he were still with the Decepticons, there would have been nothing stopping him from killing you," Bee said, unable to keep the worried undertone from his voice.

"Then it's lucky for us he's not with them anymore isn't it?" Sam said brightly with a quick pat to Bee's steering wheel. He was _really _happy to be out of detention.

"You trust him that easily?" Sideswipe asked. Out of the twins, he had always been notably more suspicious and level-headed, which was a wonderful combination to Sunstreaker's recklessness. Had they both been born like Sunstreaker, Sam would have truly feared for the universe.

"At this point, I doubt he would have any reason to lie to me," Sam shrugged, gazing out of the window as they pulled away from their hiding spot. "If he had been on orders to kill me, he's had plenty of opportunities to do it, sneaking into my school and accosting me in the bathroom while I was alone being one of them. He didn't, though, and gave me, or us, valuable information about the Decepticons that will probably save our asses. So yeah, I think at this point I don't really have much of an option but to trust him."

"I'm not happy about it," Bee whined, which only earned him another half-hearted smack to his steering wheel. "But he _did _help us so I can at least give the cat that much."

"You bet your ass you can," Sam smiled, knowing that no matter how much Bee complained, he trusted Sam's judgment. "So everyone else knows already?"

"They do," Bumblebee affirmed. "I informed them as soon as you told me. Though, they also think he is not likely to pull any random acts of violence today, seeing as you and your kind have been released from the school safely. We cannot, however, afford to wait and see if he will decide that tomorrow is the best day to attack your school. Obviously, too many lives are at risk."

"So, what do we do?" Sam asked, both nervous and perplexed. Starscream wasn't giving them a lot of options.

"We lure him to us sooner than expected, of course!" Sideswipe chimed in, clearly excited. "We all discussed it while you were in dee-ten-shun, and the best plan we've got is to get him to come to us before he can get his claws on you."

Sam nodded thoughtfully, absently running a hand along Bee's leather seat. The engine purred a little louder than was normal at the touch. "That works, but how do we get him to come to us?"

"That's easy. Barricade!"

Sam choked, not expecting that answer. "And how in the hell are we going to get Barricade to agree to use him as _bait_ for Starscream?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, you said that he said that he wanted the war to be over, right? That he wanted peace? Well this is probably the fastest way we can achieve peace right now, and if he's going to be hanging around this place because of you, he may as well make himself useful!" Sunstreaker babbled all at once, nearly losing Sam with his rapid speech.

"Okay, so, um…how are we even going to get in touch with him?"

"Again, that's super easy! We use you," Sideswipe cackled, causing Sam to groan loudly.

-:-

Barricade was lurking at the end of the deserted street, stalling in the middle of the road as he contemplated Sam and Bumblebee waiting for him at the other end. Sam found the sight incredibly amusing and couldn't stop giggling, much to Bee's dismay. Barricade looked like a wary dog creeping closer and closer to strangers that had food in their outstretched hands, and Sam couldn't beat the image from his head.

"Tell the boy to stop laughing at me _right now,"_ Barricade snapped when he was close enough, his voice cutting through Bee's radio. Sam giggled harder.

"Sam," Bee reprimanded gently. "He will not agree to help us if you continue to treat him as a source of amusement."

"I'm sorry," Sam gasped, clutching his knees and still giggling helplessly. "You just look so _cute_, Barricade. If you were a stray I'd never be able to resist you."

Barricade growled indignantly while Bee hemmed and hawed above Barricade's noise about Sam calling a Decepticon cute. Sam giggled some more and Barricade snorted derisively.

"Don't get too jealous, Bee-bot, green isn't a real pretty color on you. You'd do well to stick to yellow," Barricade sneered, and Sam could practically feel Bee bristle, his chassis shuddering slightly with steadily rising anger.

"You had better be _grateful_ Sam is here or I would wipe the floor with your cowardly body, Barricade," Bee snarled, and Barricade promptly began to prepare a scathing retort before Sam cut them off with a sharp clap of his hands.

"Boys! Honestly! We're supposed to be fighting Starscream, not each other. Now, can we accomplish what we came here for? And Barricade, I'm sorry I laughed at you, it was just really cute and I won't do it again, promise. Maybe."

"Whatever," Barricade mumbled. "Now what makes you so sure I'd even agree to help you get Starscream in the first place? I told you, I want nothing to do with this war anymore."

Sam opened the door and stepped out of the driver's seat, ignoring Bee's protests that he remain inside for his own safety. He shut the door a little harder than necessary for emphasis, and Bee huffed. "For one," Sam started loudly, leaning casually against Bee's door, "you're here. That's really all I needed. If you truly hadn't been interested, I doubt you would have shown up. For another, even though you want nothing more to do with this war, I bet you want it to be over even more. So, there's two damn good reasons right there. Should I keep going, or will you just get it over with and agree to help us?"

Barricade eyed him silently. "You've been taking intimidation lessons from Ironhide, haven't you? You've got some work to do, boy. But," he quickly cut Sam off as the boy opened his mouth, "I'll agree to help. Only because, what with my involvement with Megatron, I feel that it's only fair I do my part in ending it."

"A Decepticon with a rare sense of honor?" How quaint," Bee sneered. Sam slapped his hand against Bee's door none too kindly.

"Be nice," the boy hissed. He turned to look at Barricade. "So that's it, then? You're in?"

Sam could practically see Barricade rolling his eyes as he bit out, "I'm in."

"That was easy," Bee mumbled, a little put out that he hadn't been presented a chance to argue with Barricade more.

"Yeah, it was, so let's not look a gift horse in the mouth and get back to the others before he changes his mind," Sam said hurriedly, opening the door and climbing back into Bee's interior.

"Don't look a what horse in the what?" Bee echoed slowly.

"Even I get that the proverb, Bumblebee. Clearly you haven't been doing your research into strange human phrases long enough. Spend a little more time with me, you'll get it," Barricade replied snidely.

"Shut up."

Sam sighed, tuning out Barricade's flippant remark and settled back into the seat, prepared for a long drive of sharp comments sniped back and forth between the two Cybertronians.

-:-

Barricade, though he would never admit it even under pain of torture, glued himself to Sam's side as much as a robotic organism could once they grouped up with the other Autobots—because Ironhide was a _little bit_ intimidating with specialized weapons racked on his arms and a trigger-happy disposition.

Bee teased him relentlessly for his dog-like behavior, which he had eventually decided to ignore because he was the mature one (a self-given title).

"Tie him up out there and the Decepticons will smell the meat and come running," Ironhide groused, clearly unhappy with Barricade's presence. The cop shifted closer to Sam, eyeing Ironhide warily.

"Ironhide," Optimus reprimanded the gunner firmly. "He will voluntarily transmit the signal or he won't at all. We will not force him, that's not our way."

His reply was a mumbled, "whatever." Ratchet rolled his eyes.

"I'm just making my presence known so Starscream can come pretend to finish what he started?" Barricade spoke up. He wasn't thrilled about being the designated bait for a murderous lunatic, but he really did want said lunatic to die, and soon. "And I'm the only one that can do this?"

"Well, no, not the only one," Ratchet spoke up. "But you're certainly the fastest. And we need fast. Sam would have sufficed if he were capable of transmitting—Starscream wants him just as dead—but he can't. And I think Bumblebee would dismantle us all alive if we allowed Sam to be the bait."

"Great to hear you value my life so highly," Barricade griped. Ironhide scoffed. Sam, however, patted Barricade's leg from his position on the ground.

"I value your life." Barricade shot him a strange look.

"Anyway," Ratchet continued, "you're the fastest and easiest way to get him to come after us _now. _And we need now. If we allow him one more day for him to attack, then he'll destroy far more lives. We cannot and will not allow that to happen. So, will you help us?"

Barricade was silent for a few moments. His gaze, focused on the ground, subtly shifted over to Sam before he raised his head and nodded. "Alright, fine. But you all owe me."

"We owe you nothing," Mirage snarled, which prompted a fierce glare from Barricade. Ironhide attempted to high five him, but Mirage stared blankly at the gunner's hand before casting an unimpressed stare that could probably set him on fire.

"Wasn't really talking to you," Barricade sneered in return. Before Mirage could work himself up anymore, Optimus quickly interrupted the brewing argument with an impatient cough.

"If you two would kindly pack it up to deal with later, we should attempt to lure Starscream and his team in now. The sooner this is done, the sooner we can move on. And remember, fight with everything you have. Kill if necessary."

"Brutal," Sam murmured.

"Sam, you should move to a safer position. We will keep the Decepticons busy enough that they should not target you—we have Barricade and Mirage, after all—but _hide_ if they do. Understand?" Bee had leveled him with a serious stare, and Sam could only sigh in defeat. He knew fighting was out of the question for himself. He had no weapons, nothing but his incredibly fragile human body that would be crushed like an insect beneath Starscream's pinky finger.

"Yeah, alright," he muttered, beginning to make his way to a safer copse of trees that could shield him if necessary. "That spot okay?"

"Good enough." Bee watched him walk away, not noticing Barricade doing the same.

"Barricade?"

The former Decepticon glanced around at Optimus's reminder. He inhaled deeply, immediately scanning within a large radius to check if Starscream was lurking nearby. There were no immediate responses to his scans, so he cut on his signal and transmitted it to a wider range, only enough that Starscream would recognize who he was—and that he was very much alive. It would have to do. If he transmitted too far, too wide, it would take up a good chunk of energy. He could not afford to lose too much.

Optimus turned to Bee, and Barricade dimly heard him order, "scan the area, keep checking for them."

It did not take very long—though the ten minutes felt like torturous hours for the Autobots—for Starscream to show up. The signal had done the trick. He was flying to their location, team in tow, at such a rapid pace that Barricade could only assume Starscream was _mad._

He smirked. He had a right to be, after all. Barricade was supposed to be long dead.

"Incoming!" Bee cried as their distant shapes began to take form and grow within the skies. "ETA in ten-point-four seconds, get ready!"

Barricade locked his eyes upon the foremost jet. He stood his ground.

The leader of the Decepticons, unfolding rapidly in mid-air, landed with an earth-shattering thud in front of Barricade. The earth cracked around his feet and hands and dust rose in a great billowing sweep.

"Barricade," Starscream sneered as he stood. The dust slowly dissipated around him, and his outline became more and more clear—the harsh, jagged lines that formed him, made him so frightening and terrible. "You're still alive, I see." His voice was tight with anger. The rest of the Decepticons were landing around him, spreading in a menacing circle behind their leader. The Autobots were nearly vibrating in their defensive positions.

The ex-Decepticon, however, did not appear impressed. "Always have to make it dramatic, don't you, 'Scream?" he sighed, shaking his head exasperatedly. "Spare us the speech, please, we don't have all day."

"Insolent brat!" Starscream spat, immediately incensed by Barricade's flippant attitude. Bumblebee snorted with amusement. Barricade, he had noticed, tended to purposefully tread on other's toes just to raise their hackles and start a fight (including him). With Starscream, it appeared, Barricade's tactics worked like a charm. "You're supposed to be dead, I finished you myself! Did I damage you so badly that you had to run like a sniveling coward to the Autobots for help?"

For all his density, it appeared, Starscream could still fight dirty. He knew exactly how to tread on Barricade's toes as well, having attacked his pride. Barricade's eyes narrowed dangerously. "That's enough out of you," he growled, and he lunged.

The battle was a whirlwind of mechanical bodies and fired shots, brightly colored plasma and energy channeled from their bodies. It was both beautiful and terrifying, and Sam could only watch in dim, horrified fascination as his friends fought for their lives against the sharp-bodied, hulking Decepticons. He had forgotten their names long ago, but not their faces, not when they belonged in his nightmares.

He had wanted to be a part of this fight, he knew he did, but the whistling bodies and gunfire and mayhem were swirling dangerously in his head. He was getting dizzy, and everything slowed down as though there was a thick layer of film over the entire scene.

He watched Ratchet clout a dark-colored Decepticon underneath the jaw that sent him sailing backwards. Sideswipe went down under a powerful sweep from another, and his twin quickly leapt to his rescue, tackling their combined enemy with a ferocious vigor and tearing at his armor. Ironhide's heaviest, most destructive guns were mounted upon his shoulders and blasting holes into the ground as he shot wildly at his enemies—they could barely dart away from his aim fast enough.

A flash of silvery blue caught his eye amongst the battle and Sam focused on Mirage. He was surprised the mech had even shown up their skirmish, considering how little he seemed to care about his race now that his home was gone. Sam could not help but watch Mirage a little more closely than the others. He was fighting Skywarp, one of the few Decepticons Sam could remember due to his unique teleporting abilities. That alone would make Skywarp an incredibly frustrating and deadly opponent, but Mirage was quick and agile, meeting the teleporter head-on at every turn. Even from his vantage point he could see the steadily mounting frustration in Skywarp's face.

It proved to be fatal for the teleporter—he grew sloppier with his tactics, and finally Mirage was able to predict his next move. It was met by the gun mounted on Mirage's arm, which blasted a hole through Skywarp's torso and tore into his spark. Mirage was a prickly little thorn to everyone he spoke to, but he was a vicious fighter. Sam was a little more than grateful that the mech was on their side, for what it was worth.

The teleporter's body fell limply to the earth. Everyone was suddenly aware of a shrill, keening wail that followed his body to the ground. Thundercracker immediately appeared at his lover's side, desperately shaking the lifeless body. Mirage stepped slowly away from the fallen body, appearing almost shocked at what he had accomplished.

"_You!" _a harsh, grating yell snagged every other mech's attention, though Mirage could only stare in disbelief at Skywarp's fallen body. He was not paying any attention to Starscream. This angered the Decepticon, who had finally noticed Mirage's presence, even further.

"**You **_**took him from me, **_**you filthy coward!**" the Decepticon shrieked, his rage vibrating along with his quickly changing body.

Starscream's arm whipped upwards so fast it whistled in the air, the thick plates adjusting rapidly to form the most powerful weapon he had built into his arm. He aimed the gun at Mirage and fired, howling in rage, despair and unequivocal, pent-up emotion that Mirage finally heard and turned to face.

The blast from the gun forced the silvery mech to duck on pure instinct, and the powerful shot sailed over his head and hit Bumblebee squarely in the chest.

"_NO!"_

Sam, the silent spectator, screamed in anguish, his cry bleeding into unintelligible sound as he watched his guardian crumple to the ground. Bumbleebee's chest was blown open, the pulsing light of his spark dying within its encasement. The blue light in his eyes was fading rapidly—he was offline before he hit the ground.

He slowly walked forward. Time froze around him, soaring past his ears in a loud rush. His heart was threatening to explode in his chest, he wanted to burst and spread over Bee until they were together again, and Bee wasn't dead, he _couldn't_ be, he was supposed to be there with Sam forever—his body lurched towards Starscream, intent on destroying the mech with his bare hands, but a wide hand scooped him up just as Barricade hurled the wide blade attached to his right arm straight through Starscream's spark.

"Ratchet," Sam sobbed, crumpling into the medic's hands. "Not Bee, please," he moaned, his words choked by his tears. His throat felt prickly, like it was closing in on itself. "You have to fix him, Ratchet, please." The boy's words were almost unintelligible, broken up by wrenching sobs as they were. Ratchet only shook his head and stared mournfully at his fallen friend. He had known defeating Starscream, and thus the Decepticons, would come at a price, but he had never wanted it to be this one.

"Why, Ratchet? He was just standing there, he wasn't even doing anything! You have to fix him, please!" Sam's cries were becoming hysterical. He looked as if he wanted to hurl himself from Ratchet's hand and hope the fall would break his neck. The medic subconsciously curled his fingers to form a tighter protective cage around the boy.

All else was ignored—the remaining Decepticons that were foolish enough to continue fighting were quickly dispatched, while the last couple attempted to flee.

Optimus, however, had kneeled next to Bumblebee, ignoring any fighting going on around him. His hand stretched out to gently touch the body of his friend, and Ratchet could see the open expression on their leader's face. He was grieving, and heavily.

"Let me see him," a deep voice snagged Ratchet's attention, and he glanced around to see Barricade's outstretched hand. "I will not harm him, I swear on Primus."

"I know you won't," Ratchet muttered, handing Sam to the ex-Decepticon without question. Sam did not even notice the exchange, still sobbing heavily.

"Join the Prime. I will bring Sam over shortly, after he has calmed down a little," Barricade promised, his fingers already shielding Sam in a protective gesture that surprised even Ratchet. The medic only nodded, however, and quickly joined Optimus next to Bumblebee's body.

"LadiesMan," Barricade murmured, attempting to catch the grieving boy's attention, but it did not appear to work. "Sam," he tried again, but a particularly loud sob drowned out his voice. He sighed, and quickly made his own hologram appear on his hand, next to Sam. He was dimly struck by how surreal it looked, but quickly decided it was no worse than having his hologram sit in the driver's seat when he was disguised as a car. His hologram wrapped its arms around Sam in what he knew to be a comforting human gesture. If nothing else, he figured some semblance of human comfort would help Sam.

"Sam, you must calm down," he murmured, attempting to soothe the grieving boy. "I understand you are in emotional pain, but you must calm down or you will hurt yourself. Can you do that?" Sam, in answer, collapsed against Barricade's hologram and sobbed harder. Barricade stiffened, completely at a loss as to what to do with the human boy. Sam's guardian, the only one who could ever seem to calm him, was a lifeless shell now. He was not well versed in human emotions, he was harsh and rash and cold, but when Sam was crying brokenly into his chest, he forgot all of these aspects of himself. He only wanted to make the boy stop crying. For some reason, seeing Sam as he was caused a deep ache in his chest, one he could not explain, and it scared him.

He let his instincts guide him and wrapped his arms in a tighter hold around Sam, bringing his hand up to run it through the short brown strands of hair. "Sam," he repeated softly, in as soothing a voice as he could muster. "Sam, please calm down. You will have plenty of time to grieve."

"He's gone, he's gone…" The chant continued, broken and hollow, and Barricade could do little but rub soothing circles on Sam's back—a quick search on the Internet had informed him this was an acceptable gesture of comfort.

"It will be alright, Sam. When you've calmed down sufficiently, I will take you to see him, if you would like. But for now, cry as much as you would like. It appears crying wears the human body out, something I would think would be good for you."

"You didn't even _like_ him," Sam spat suddenly, struggling away from Barricade. "What do you care? Why are you doing this? Bee hated you! You don't have to do him or me any favors, you can leave like you always wanted to." His words, though spiteful, were still cut with harsh sobs and slurred with tears.

"We did not necessarily hate each other," Barricade replied gently. "It was something more like a rivalry between two distant brothers that never really got along. Not that I am calling him my brother, but…I am not helping you because of him, Sam. I'm helping you because _you _helped me."

Sam scoffed, though it sounded more like a hiccup. "So you're doing this to pay me back because I was fucking nice to you? Great."

"Yes and no." Barricade observed the boy still wrapped within his arms. "I was very grateful for your help, though I am too proud to admit such a thing. And, because of that and the kind of person I have come to see within your spark, I have grown…fond of you, Sam. I am helping you because you need it, and I care enough to." He paused, his mouth twisting sourly. "Don't ever tell anyone I said that."

Much to Barricade's relief, Sam giggled at his last statement. It was half-hearted, barely qualified, but it counted. "I'm relieved to see you have sufficiently calmed down."

"I guess." Sam's body slumped wearily within the hologram's. Barricade wasn't sure the boy was even fully aware that he had employed his hologram's help to soothe the crying boy. His face was swollen and wet with the tears he had shed. Another quick search on the Internet had Barricade swiping the moisture away with a gentle thumb.

"Would you like to see him now?" he asked gently, unsure if taking Sam to Bumblebee's body was the best course of action so soon after he had broken down.

Sam did not give him much time to think too deeply on the matter. "Yeah. Yeah, I want to see him, please." His throat worked nervously as he swallowed, but he seemed determined. Barricade would not stand in his way.

"Very well. Is it alright if I disintegrate the hologram?"

Sam blinked slowly, pulling back to stare into the violet eyes of Barricade's hologram. His face seemed crumpled, broken. He shook his head. "Stay. Please?"

Barricade smiled softly, though he thought it probably looked more like a grimace. "Alright, Sam. Let's go."

His autonomous body stood slowly, careful not to jostle the boy in his hand. He had buried his head back into the hologram's chest, refusing to look at Bee's body just yet. Barricade slowly came up behind the Autobots gathered around their fallen friend and lowered his hand so that both Sam and himself could step onto the ground. He let his hologram completely take over.

"Come, Sam." He took Sam's elbow in a gentle grip and guided him to Bee, who had been rearranged into a less grotesque position than the one he had fallen in. He looked peaceful, almost, lying prone on the ground. Sam choked on another sob as he finally met Bee's empty eyes.

"He's really dead," he whispered, tightening his grip on Barricade's arm. "Bee…you're really gone. I don't want you to be gone. You promised…that you would always protect me. I never thought you would die because of that. I want you back, Bee…more than anything." His words tugged at the stillness in the air with such sharp clarity that even Barricade found himself repressing the crushing weight of death.

Sam blinked, a few more tears sliding down his cheeks. "What will you do with him?" he asked softly, turning to Optimus.

"We will keep him as he is. Only on Cybertron, when we had the Allspark, did we ever dismantle bodies to make new ones, for new life. We cannot do that anymore, and so Bumblebee will remain as he fell. We will keep his body safe," Optimus replied solemnly. His eyes did not leave Bee's body.

"And the others?" Sam asked, glancing at Starscream and the other fallen Decepticons. "What will you do with them?"

"They will be Ratchet's, to do with as he sees fit."

Sam gripped Barricade's arm tightly. "I didn't even get to say goodbye." His voice was so small, so quiet.

"None of us did," Ratchet said quietly.

Ironhide and Prowl had remained silent, watching with a quiet solemnity that only their personalities allowed. They grieved without words, only silence. Sunstreaker had collapsed against his twin, who supported him only barely. The two had not moved from their positions since. Mirage lurked quietly in the background, nearly forgotten, his eyes fixed upon Sam.

"Come, let us begin sorting everything out. Today we fought a difficult battle, and we won, at great cost. I commend you all for your bravery today." Optimus's voice rang like a knell in Sam's heart. His legs refused to move, and only at Barricade's gentle coaxing did he finally manage to turn his back on Ironhide and Optimus lifting Bee's body and begin the trek back to Barricade's mech form, sitting patiently in the grass.

"Samuel."

He turned to see Mirage, who had crept closer until he was able to address the boy. Barricade's grip on him tightened protectively. Sam's eyes hardened reflexively, but even he could not find it in his heart to blame Mirage for Bee's death.

"What?" he said instead, his voice nearly devoid of life.

"I…wanted to apologize for my behavior. When we met. And for…this," he said, waving his hand vaguely. "I never wanted this to happen. If I could take it back, I'd have let him kill me."

Sam shook his head. "Don't apologize to me, Mirage. There's nothing to be sorry for. I'll miss him for the rest of my life, but there's nothing I can do. Nothing anyone can do now, to bring him back. I'll be fine."

"I just realize that you really cared about him." Mirage eyed Barricade's hologram warily, and his eyes darted to the larger body waiting for their return. "I know how it feels."

"I imagine you do," Sam muttered. Barricade quickly tugged him away again, leaving Mirage standing helplessly in the dying light of the sun.

Once he was safely back in Barricade's hand, the hologram still sitting beside him and gripping his hand comfortingly (at his own insistence), he watched the proceedings dully. Optimus had passed Bee's legs to Prowl, who carried the body away with Ironhide to be taken to a safe base, and began to approach Barricade and Sam with a slow, heavy stride that belied his many years.

"Once," he began, after standing near them for a few moments in contemplative silence, "there was a Cybertronian I loved very dearly. We were inseperable, and loved with such passion that we were not the only ones deluded into thinking it would never end. He was everything to me, and when I became a Prime, he was so proud of me. I was happy I could share it with him. Everything we did reflected the other." Here he paused, tilting his head sadly to stare at the darkening sky. "One day, he changed. Drastically. I am not sure why, nor how, because it was never proven, though I believe it was a stray virus from the scientists, one that had evolved into something deadly and terrifying. He tried to kill me, and almost succeeded. He destroyed our home, the entire planet. He slaughtered thousands of others, infecting and recruiting as he went. He was never the same. There was nothing that I could do. I was forced to watch the mech that I loved destroy himself, destroy me, and our home."

Sam swallowed thickly. Tears pricked at his eyes again, but for a different reason. "Megatron?" he whispered.

Again, Optimus was silent for a few moments. The air was thick with hazy memories and sadness. "Yes," he said, finally. "Megatron was my soul-mate. From the very beginning, we were drawn to each other. There would have been nothing, short of Megatron losing his mind to something like a virus, that would have torn us apart."

"That's what Bee meant," Sam said suddenly, wonderingly. "He said it was rare, that two mechs were so perfectly made for each other that they became soul-mates."

"There has not been another recorded case of such a thing since," Optimus affirmed with a nod of his head. "Sam, consider yourself lucky that you remained friends with Bumblebee as you did. I would rather Megatron had died than watch him become a shell of his former self."

Sam felt his lungs shudder, the breath leaving his body as though someone had punched him in the sternum. "Did you ever stop loving him?"

Optimus only smiled sadly. "Never."

-:-

Night had fallen rapidly, and Sam finally conceded to going home. He had not wanted to leave Bee, and would have easily stayed by his guardian's body all night, had Ratchet not wrangled him away and forced him to agree to sleep in his own bed that night.

"We will take care of Bumblebee, Sam. You need to sleep—you have school. While it would likely be permissible for you to miss a day of your education tomorrow, you need to sleep on that decision first. I'm ordering this as your friend _and_ your doctor. Now go."

"I'll take him," Barricade offered.

Optimus stiffened for only a second, before he slowly nodded. "I trust you." Ironhide remained blessedly silent, though Prowl was staring with rapt disapproval. "He no longer has a guardian to watch after him, and we are needed here."

Barricade glanced at the ground, silent, before—"I'll be his guardian."

Sam's head whipped around to stare at him. "You?" Ironhide sneered, breaking his former silence. "And why should we trust _you_ with Sam?"

"Ironhide," Optimus barked. He turned back to Barricade. "Are you sure, Barricade? I have to admit, you aren't the…most likely candidate to be Sam's guardian. And it is not a title you can take lightly. If you became his guardian, you would have to spend more time with us than you seem willing."

Barricade only shook his head. His jaw was set in a determined square. "I am very serious. I would only ever do this for Sam. I owe him far more than even I am willing to admit."

"Sam?" Ratchet prompted, overriding Ironhide's loud protests. "You have a say in this."

Sam blinked slowly, staring hard at Barricade. He had just lost his own guardian to the maddened mech that Barricade had once sided with, and now the mech was offered to take Bee's place as his guardian—and, by extension, his friend. He thought of every meeting with Barricade, every word, and his heart ache as he remembered his and Bee's banter from earlier that day.

He nodded.

"Yeah," he agreed, more easily than he thought he could. The decision almost fell out of his mouth for him. "I'd like it if you could be my guardian."

Ironhide sulked some more. Ratchet smiled softly at Barricade's stunned, but pleased expression. The former Decepticon quickly straightened, his face becoming blank once more, and he turned away, Sam held protectively in his curled hand.

"Right, then. It's time for you to go home, Sam," he said gruffly, setting the boy down. He quickly folded into the banged-up cop car. Ratchet sighed.

"You really should let me repair that."

"No."

Sam smiled wearily. "Let's go, Barricade." He climbed into the driver's seat and Barricade quickly took off, disappearing around the bend in the path between the trees. Optimus watched them go, shaking his head.

"I didn't really see that one coming, to be honest," he said aloud.

"What, are you blind? I did," Ratchet replied, sniffing. "Saw it coming a mile away."

"Saw what coming? A mile where? What?" Sunstreaker blinked dimly, glancing between Optimus and Ratchet.

"Nothing," Ratchet sighed. His face fell somberly once more as he turned to Bee's broken body. "Today has been far too unkind, my friends. If nothing else, I am only grateful that we won. Starscream is no longer a threat, to us or the humans."

"At this price, though?" Prowl said quietly. "Even after centuries of war, the death of a friend never gets any easier."

"Let's us hope that, with both Starscream and Megatron dead, it will never have to get any easier," Optimus sighed heavily."Where one star dies, another is soon born to take its place."

"You think so?" Ratchet asked cryptically.

The leader of the Autobots turned to stare after Barricade and Sam, who had long since disappeared. "We will find out, I believe."

-:-


End file.
